Six men were sentenced on 12 February 2026 by the Bouches-du-Rhône assizes court in Aix-en-Provence for the kidnapping and torture of two runaway teenagers in Marseille.[1] The prison terms ranged from six to 18 years.[1] The heaviest sentences, 18 years, went to two brothers described as the managers of the Frais-Vallon dealing point.[1] The brothers are Kais and Elyes Khezmim, aged 20 and 21 at the time.[2] All six were convicted of kidnapping and organised violence, and four of them of rape.[2] The court gave 16 years to an accused the victim called the most violent, 14 to a man nicknamed Souris and 12 to a jailer.[3] The only defendant not in custody was sentenced to six years.[3]
The victims were 16-year-old runaways from two rural communes of Bouches-du-Rhône, recruited in January 2022 to sell drugs at the Frais-Vallon estate.[3] One handled the money and the other sold on the streets around the estate.[4] They were held for four days, beaten with fists, feet and sticks and forced to work for free over an imaginary debt.[3] They were made to dance naked in front of a camera for blackmail, and one of them was raped.[4] A woman who had just bought hashish from them called the police.[5] The note she was handed read: “We are being held captive and need help. We are 15-years-old.”[4] The pair jumped from the third floor to escape.[1] One got away, while the other was caught, beaten and stabbed, but survived.[5]
The defence pleaded for acquittal, arguing that the case rested on the word of one victim.[3] The court was specially composed of professional judges.[2] Prosecutor Pierre Cortès called the case the “horrifying reality” of drug trafficking.[2] Official figures counted more than 10,000 minors involved in trafficking in France in 2025.[4] Police say they have detained about 1,000 people linked to the DZ Mafia since 2024, 600 of whom were jailed.[4]