Eight charged for brutal murder that has shocked France, three still sought

Eight suspects have been charged with last Friday’s brutal murder of two young men on a housing estate in eastern France, prosecutors revealed Thursday. About 1,000 people turned out for the victims’ funeral in Echirolles on the outskirts of Grenoble on Wednesday.

Reuters/Emmanuel Foudrot

Seven of the suspects were charged and detained on Wednesday evening and an eighth later in the night.

About 1,000 people turned out for the two men’s funeral at a local mosque on Wednesday.

“Let the deaths of Kevin and Sofiane be a cause for change that might soften their parents’ griect,” Imam Larbi Aouini told the crowd.

Four other suspects were released on Wednesday morning and police are still searching for two more men, both of whom have already been convicted of violent crimes.

Kevin Noubissi et de Sofiane Tabirt, both 21, were set upon by a gang of about 15 youths, armed with hammers, pick-axe handles, baseball bats and knives, from neighbouring Villeneuve.

Noubissi, a student, was stabbed about eight times, Tabirt, a youth worker, about 30.

The dispute is said to have occurred because the younger brother of one of the men looked the wrong way at someone from Villeneuve.

Suspects have been identified by eyewitnesses and from CCTV footage and two of those charged turned themselves in, one in Grenoble, the other near Paris, but police say that most of the suspects deny they were present during the attack.

The case has grabbed national headlines. President François Hollande visited Echirolles on Monday evening and promised that the killers would be brought to justice.