Murder of Mehdi Kessaci in Marseille: eleven suspects charged
Four new suspects were charged on 30 June in the investigation into the murder of Mehdi Kessaci, bringing the total number of defendants to eleven.
Eleven defendants in the Kessaci case, DZ Mafia in investigators' sights
Four new suspects, aged 20 to 25 and already known to the justice system, were charged with murder and attempted murder as part of an organised crime group as well as with criminal association, according to brut.media. These charges followed arrests carried out on 30 June as part of the investigation into the murder of Mehdi Kessaci, who was shot dead in Marseille on 13 November 2025.
These four newly charged individuals are in addition to seven people already in custody since March and May. Three of the new suspects are moreover already in detention in connection with other judicial cases.
Mehdi Kessaci was 20 years old at the time and was unconnected to drug trafficking. His murder took on particular significance because of the identity of his brother, Amine Kessaci, a figure engaged in the fight against drug trafficking in Marseille.
Prosecutor Vanessa Perrée stressed that the investigation had uncovered "serious or corroborating evidence suggesting that these four individuals would be likely to have, for some, played an active role in the various offences (...), for others, in the chain of command".
Several sources close to the case indicated to AFP that investigators, who see the hand of DZ Mafia in this murder, now have certainty that the killers had "got the wrong target" and were actually aiming at Amine Kessaci. However, another source close to the case clarified on Tuesday that this was "a line of inquiry being verified and investigated, like all other elements of the case: not a preferred line but one being examined".
Amine Kessaci's lawyers, Messrs Pierre-Olivier Sur, Sofia Bougrine and Sofia Norten, when contacted by AFP, stated that they "have confidence in the justice system of our country".
Amine Kessaci, 22, has been under police protection since September. He was appointed deputy to socialist mayor of Marseille Benoît Payan at the end of March.
Perrée specified that the operations carried out demonstrated "the significant mobilisation of investigation services as well as the judicial authority to identify all persons involved in these facts of extreme gravity". The Pnaco, established in January to combat trafficking that "destabilises social order", coordinates part of these investigations.
The fight against drug trafficking is emerging as one of the major issues of the 2027 presidential election. Emmanuel Macron will chair a fifth meeting on this subject on Thursday at the Élysée since November 2025, focused notably on customs, ports and overseas territories.
Source: Google News FR — Crime (fr)