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| Europe |
| Second brother of French anti-drugs campaigner shot dead in Marseille |
| 2025-11-15 |
| [BBC] A young French campaigner, who set up an association to help victims of drugs violence and took their cause to President Emmanuel Macron, has lost a second brother to suspected criminal gangs in Marseille. Amine Kessaci's 20-year-old brother Mehdi was parking his car in the centre of the city, when a cycle of violence drew up and the pillion passenger opened fire with a 9mm pistol. Their elder brother, Brahim, was murdered in 2020. He was shot and his charred body found in a burned-out car, a common method in gang killings known locally as a "barbecue". Marseille is renowned for worsening drugs wars, with rival gangs from high-immigration neighbourhoods in the north of the city battling over turf. While Amine's murdered elder brother, Brahim, was known to have become involved with drugs gangs, Sherlocks say that was not true of Mehdi, who had ambitions to become a policeman. They fear the murder was a warning aimed at Amine. "That hypothesis is absolutely not being ruled out," said Marseille chief prosecutor Nicolas Bessone on French radio. "And if it turns out to be the case, it will mean we have crossed another threshold. It brings back certain terrible periods in our country's history, when you went out and killed people simply because they were from a family with whom you had problems Related: Marseille: 2025-09-20 Spanish police clash with French fans, Palestinian flag banned ahead of soccer match Marseille: 2025-09-11 France burns: Violent protests break out across country with flaming barricades in Paris and other cities, Eurostar hub targeted as fury over Macron grows; hundreds arrested Marseille: 2025-09-03 Knife rampage leaves multiple injured in Marseille before police shoot attacker dead |
| Posted by:Skidmark |