Overview
- The assize trial began Monday, October 19, 2026, in Aix‑en‑Provence with five men on the dock and hearings planned to run for about three weeks into early November.
- Prosecutors accuse Karim Harrat of financing and ordering the operation from abroad and present Amine Oualane as the on‑the‑ground relay linked to the emergent 'DZ Mafia'.
- The three victims were found burned in two separate vehicles in late 2020, with investigators saying they were lured to a trap as part of drug‑network rivalries.
- Court security is exceptional with helicopters, snipers, masked police and professional magistrates, and Amine Kessaci is participating as a civil party and is expected to testify.
- The trial is being read as a test of justice in Marseille's long fight with narcotics violence, a landscape marked by gang wars, collateral civilian deaths and ongoing related investigations.