Triple murder trial in Marseille: Amine Kessaci and his brothers facing the accused
The trial of the murder of Brahim Chabane opens on Monday in Aix-en-Provence under heightened security. Amine Kessaci, deputy mayor of Marseille, will be heard as a civil party.
Triple murder trial held under tight security in Aix-en-Provence
The city centre of Aix-en-Provence will be heavily fortified from Monday 19 October for three weeks. Helicopters, snipers and elite units will oversee the trial of a triple homicide in which all three victims were found dismembered and burnt. According to nouvelobs.com, the case highlights internal struggles between drug trafficking networks in Marseille.
Brahim Chabane, half-brother of Amine Kessaci, is among the three victims. Found burnt in a torched vehicle in December 2020 on a motorway near Marseille, he had been shot in the head, as was Réda Khaldi, 22. A third victim, Nassim Loubani, 24, was discovered eight days later, on 6 January 2021, in another burning car. All three were involved in drug trafficking.
Amine Kessaci: four years on, still seeking answers
Amine Kessaci, 23, deputy mayor of Marseille since the recent municipal elections, will be heard as a civil party. Almost a year after the assassination of his other brother, Mehdi, killed in November 2025, he speaks of his expectations regarding the trial. "I will stand, I will look them all straight in the eyes, I will face all the accused," he declares.
Amine Kessaci analyses the broader situation: "This country is facing a narcocracy that has gained more weight than it could have gained." He seeks to find answers to the questions "that since 29 December 2020 have not left me" and wishes to "understand what happened… even if nothing can explain what happened". The triple homicide had already prompted this young man to engage in action against drug trafficking in the city.
The main accused: two figures of organised crime in Marseille
Five people are facing charges. Among them, two names stand out: Karim Harrat and Amine Oualane, both presumed to head the criminal group DZ Mafia and detained in high-security prisons.
Karim Harrat, nicknamed "Rant" (short for "Rantanplan"), is accused of having ordered and financed the triple homicide from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where he presented himself as a self-employed businessman. Extradited from Morocco to France in February 2023, he was sought in several murder cases and is suspected of having coordinated, notably from abroad, a vast international cannabis and cocaine trafficking network. In January 2026, he was sentenced to ten years in prison for being the "principal instigator" of an international network. One of his lawyers, Hugues Vigier, states that his client "absolutely contests any involvement in this case".
Amine Oualane, nicknamed "Mamine", is accused of having been Harrat's main operative on the ground and of having participated in the murders. At the time of the crimes, he had been on the run for several months, having escaped during a prison release permit. Now 32 years old and considered one of the presumed pillars of DZ Mafia, he has since faced eight charges or indictments in cases involving murder and organised gang murder. His lawyer, Inès Medioune, asserts that her client "has nothing to do with this case".
A history of violence, a trajectory towards criminality
At a previous trial in March 2026 for a double murder committed in 2019, Karim Harrat was sentenced to twenty-five years imprisonment, whilst Amine Oualane was acquitted. However, in the present case, the latter appears as the main suspect on the ground.
A personality inquiry carried out at his first trial revealed a childhood marked by abuse, confinement and food deprivation. Removed from school at around 15, Oualane turned to delinquency, motivated by "an attraction to quick money". He has spent much of his life in prison since the age of 18.
The murder of Mehdi Kessaci: a lead opening towards DZ Mafia
On 13 November 2025, Mehdi Kessaci, 20, Amine's brother, was murdered in broad daylight by motorcycle gunmen in a neighbourhood in central Marseille. Completely unconnected to drug trafficking, the young man who wanted to become a police officer was targeted by mistake, according to investigators from the criminal investigation police and the Central Office for Combating Organised Crime (OCLCO). The gunmen were actually targeting Amine Kessaci.
According to a source close to the case, Amine Oualane features among the leads in this ongoing investigation. Mehdi's death sent shockwaves through the country and bereaved Amine Kessaci once again, confronted with the loss of two brothers within less than a year.
Source: Google News FR — Crime (fr)