Triple assassination in Marseille: Amine Kessaci expresses his grief “for life” and receives thanks from Oualane

“I am not here for revenge but for justice.” In brown pants, t-shirt and white jacket, Amine Kessaci takes the stand for his first testimony in this trial which judges five accused of a triple assassination with drug trafficking funds committed on the night of December 28 to 29, 2020 and January 5, 2021 in Marseille. A testimony precipitated in this hearing by the absence this Wednesday morning of a key witness, ex-partner of Amine Oualane, who was reported pale and against whom the court requested a warrant of arrest.

And it was in a serene voice, in calm delivery and with ideas put pen in hand shortly before but certainly formulated thousands of times in his head over the last seven years, that Amine Kessaci first told what “this brother was who both loved his family and was aware of what he was, of what he did. But above all he wanted to tell his brothers to go to school, to work. That school was the only way to get out of Frais-Vallon, to emerge with our heads held high.”

“In the family, the party no longer exists, there are empty chairs at the table”

The deputy mayor of Marseille and law student then returned to the evening of December 28, the departure of his brother Brahim accompanied by Réda from the family home "without being able to kiss him one last time" and while Amine was already busy with a videoconference in connection with his associative and political commitments.

“For us, this December 28, which comes during the holiday season when family and joy are celebrated everywhere, is a life sentence. The family party no longer exists, there are empty chairs at the table,” describes the young man, who also lost his little brother Mehdi to the bullets of drug killers in November 2025. A case still under investigation in what could be an error in targeting, since Amine Kessaci found himself threatened since the publication of his book Marseille, wipe your tears.

At the morgue in front of the body of his brother, shot and then set on fire in a vehicle, Amine Kessaci says he “made a promise to my brother Brahim that I would not remain silent […] I committed myself to denouncing not people or an organization, but to telling the story of this system.” And the young elected official in charge of youth, citizenship and the commitment to evoke his quest: “That of telling, of explaining, of supporting, of not leaving people like us alone, without psychological support. Because in those moments, no one comes to ask you if you are okay.” And this is how his association “Conscience” was born, which helps the families of victims of drug trafficking, the blight of impoverished Marseille neighborhoods which left another person dead just this Tuesday evening.

“But my brother did not have the right to defense”

A commitment for which Amine Oualane, presented as a founding executive of the DZ Mafia, accused in the death of Brahim but also suspected sponsor of the assassination of Mehdi, wanted to thank Amine Kessaci through the voice of his lawyer Inès Médioune. “Amine Oualane wanted to say through my voice that he understands your pain, he lost his mother and his sister killed in feminicide. He wanted to thank you for your commitment because you enormously helped the mother of a certain “Pichou” who was murdered, and he wanted to salute your commitment.”

Shortly before, Amine Kessaci was able to say that he “had no hatred”. “I will never allow my humanity to be taken away from me. When we wanted to make this trial a Kessaci duel against one of the accused, I always said that there were 5 accused, presumed innocent; But my brother did not have the right to defense,” added the man who has lived under permanent police protection for a year.