A self-avowed neo-Nazi was sentenced to life imprisonment Wednesday for the murder of a 75-year-old woman whose only “crime” according to the killer was that “she was Jewish.” The Nice Criminal Court found no extenuating circumstances in the case of Raynald Liekens, 23.
Liekens told police and repeated in court that he stabbed Henriette Cerf to death in the summer of 1984 because she was Jewish and I had to “prove to myself my Nazi convictions.”
Police found in Liekens apartment a collection of Nazi-style brown shirts, Nazi insignia and portraits of Adolf Hitler. Psychiatrists told the jury that Liekens was mentally disturbed but sane enough to understand the gravity of his act and to stand trial.
The defense claimed that Liekens had been influenced by the “racist climate” which exists in France and by the anti-Semitic propaganda to which he had been exposed.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
