PARIS (Reuters) - Twenty-one suspected members of a self-styled "gang of barbarians" will be tried in France for the kidnapping and murder of a young Jewish man in 2006, a legal source said on Tuesday.
Another seven suspects face trial for failing to report acrime, while one will be tried in a court for children becauseshe was under 16 at the time of the attack on Ilan Halimi.
Halimi, 23, was found naked, tortured and covered in burnsnear Paris on February 13, 2006 after being held captive forthree weeks in a crime that shocked France and raised fears ofsurging anti-semitism among French Muslims. He died of hisinjuries soon afterwards.
The kidnappers used a pretty young woman to entice Halimiinto a trap, dragging the telephone salesman into a cellarwhere they proceeded to beat and torment him.
Police say the gang attempted a string of kidnappings ofJewish youths before capturing Halimi. They then sent a seriesof ransom demands to his parents, asking for as much as 450,000euros, but lengthy negotiations failed to secure his release.
The self-proclaimed "brain of the Barbarians", YoussoufFofana, was eventually arrested in the Ivory Coast.
Fofana and 18 other suspects are in jail pending the trial,which will be heard before a juvenile court because some oftheir number were youths at the time of the attack.
No trial date was set and a judicial source said it mightnot be held until 2009.
Fofana has told police he led the gang and organisedHalimi's kidnapping but has denied killing him.
(Reporting by Thierry Leveque; Writing by Crispian Balmer;Editing by Catherine Evans)
