Murder of Mehdi Kessaci in Marseille: four new suspects charged
Four new suspects have been charged and remanded in custody in the investigation into the murder of Mehdi Kessaci, bringing the total number of those implicated to 11.
Eleven suspects in total in the Kessaci case
Four new individuals — three men and a woman — have been charged in Paris and remanded in provisional custody in connection with the investigation into the murder of Mehdi Kessaci, who was killed on 13 November 2025 in Marseille in broad daylight. Google News FR — Crime (fr) reports that this new wave of charges brings the total number of suspects in this case to 11.
Arrested on 30 June, these four individuals are being prosecuted notably for "murder and attempted murder as part of an organised gang" as well as for "participation in a criminal association with a view to preparing a crime", according to a statement from the Republic's prosecutor in charge of organised crime, Vanessa Perrée, dated Tuesday 7 July.
Aged between 20 and 25, the four suspects are "all already known to the justice system", the magistrate specified. Three of them are moreover currently detained in connection with other cases.
Active roles and chain of command
Vanessa Perrée emphasised that the investigation had revealed "serious or corroborating elements suggesting that these four individuals may have, for some, played an active role in the various acts committed (...), and for others, in the chain of command".
Approached by the AFP, the lawyers of Amine Kessaci — Pierre-Olivier Sur, Sofia Bougrine and Sofia Norten — declared their "confidence in the justice of our country". The representatives of two of the other suspects declined to comment.
A murder that sent shockwaves
On 13 November 2025, Mehdi Kessaci, 20 years old, with no connection to drug trafficking and unknown to police and judicial authorities, was shot multiple times in broad daylight in the Phocaean city. His murder caused considerable emotion, notably because his brother, Amine Kessaci, is a recognised figure in the fight against drug trafficking in Marseille and is now under police protection.
Two successive waves of arrests
The investigation had entered an active phase on 23 March, when the Central Office for the Fight Against Organised Crime (OCLCO) and the Southern Zonal Directorate of the National Police (DZPN South) carried out arrests in Marseille and in the Hérault department. Ten individuals were then placed in police custody, six of them — five men and a woman — subsequently being charged and imprisoned. On 18 May, a seventh suspect was arrested, charged and also remanded in custody.
Prosecutor Perrée concluded by emphasising that these operations demonstrated "the significant mobilisation of investigation services and of the judicial authority in order to identify all persons involved in these facts of extreme gravity".
Source: Google News FR — Crime (fr)