15-year-old boy stabbed and burned alive in Marseille, France

Marseilles. A 15-year-old boy was “stabbed 50 times” and burned alive this week in the southeastern French city of Marseille in a case of “unprecedented savagery” linked to drug sales.

The Marseille prosecutor, Nicolas Bessone, told the press this Sunday that the young man was murdered on Wednesday and described the case as one of “unprecedented savagery.”

Marseille, France’s second largest city but also one of its poorest, is plagued by drug-related violence.

Bessone stated that the victims and perpetrators of these types of cases are increasingly younger.

For a few years now, this Mediterranean city has been suffering a territorial war between several clans for control of the profitable drug market.

The teenager had been hired, through social networks, by a 23-year-old inmate to intimidate a competitor by setting fire to the door of his apartment, said the prosecutor, who explained that he had been promised 2 thousand euros (about 2 thousand 100 dollars).

However, the teenager was discovered by members of a rival gang, who stabbed him dozens of times before setting him on fire while he was still alive.

The same prisoner then recruited, also on social media, a 14-year-old boy to avenge the boy, asking him to kill a member of the rival gang for $50,000.

When he was on his way to carry out his disastrous mission, the teenager allegedly asked the driver of the car he was in to wait for him, but when he refused, the minor shot him in the head.

The victim, a 36-year-old father and employee of a private transportation service, was not related to drug trafficking, the prosecutor’s office said. He is the first collateral victim of the year, Bessone said.

“Without remorse or reflection”

There is “a total loss of references that makes young people respond to advertisements (…) to go and take the lives of others without any remorse or reflection,” explained the official, who emphasized “the role of social networks “.

With these last two cases, the number of drug-related murders in Marseille rises to 17 since the beginning of the year.

In 2023, a total of 49 people died in drug-related violence in Marseille.

Another surprising aspect of this case is that it was the inmate who commissioned the murder who called the police to report the young man, who had not fulfilled his mission, which allowed his arrest.

In police custody, the minor, who had been in foster care since he was nine years old – as his parents are in jail on drug-related charges – admitted to having shot the driver, but claims it was an accidental shot.