The trial of Halima El Bakhti, 72, and Ahmed Touloub, 74, opened on Monday, November 2, before the Loir-et-Cher Assize Court in Blois. The case concerns the death of their daughter Inass, whose body was discovered beside the A10 motorway on August 11, 1987, when she was four years old.
The child remained unidentified until 2017, when DNA from one of her brothers helped establish who she was. El Bakhti is accused of torture and acts of barbarity resulting in her daughter’s death, without intent to kill. Touloub is charged with complicity in the crime.
At the opening session, the two defendants appeared frail, seated beside one another as the court’s presiding judge, Audrey Debeugny, read a summary of the investigation. She paused several times to check whether they could hear her and were following the proceedings.
The court rejected the civil-party application submitted by the commune of Suèvres, where Inass was buried in 1987.
Sources: Le Monde.