French star Isabelle Adjani fails to show for tax trial

The tax evasion trial of French film star Isabelle Adjani began in Paris on Thursday, though she did not attend after claiming she was unable to fly from the United States.

Published: 19 October 2023 17:31 CEST

French star Isabelle Adjani fails to show for tax trial

French actress Isabelle Adjani: Photo by AMMAR ABD RABBO / Red Sea Film Festival / AFP

Adjani, 68, is accused of concealing a two million euro gift and pretending to live in Portugal for two years, which she strongly denies

Her defence lawyers sought a delay, saying Adjani was in the United States and had “an acute condition incompatible with flying”, insisting that she wanted to appear in court.

The judges rejected the request, pointing out that she had since June to prepare her appearance but had only booked a flight that arrived two hours before the hearing.

Adjani is one of France’s best-loved stars, appearing in hits like Possession, One Deadly Summer and Queen Margot, and winning a record five Cesar Awards for best actress.

She says the two million euros were not a gift, but a loan from a friend – influential Senegalese businessman and International Olympic Committee member Mamadou Diagna NDiaye.

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The French Jewish community, the third largest in the world, has for months been on edge in the face of a growing number of attacks and desecrations of memorials.

“National police in Rouen neutralised early this morning an armed individual who clearly wanted to set fire to the city’s synagogue,” Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Police responded at 6.45 am to reports of “fire near the synagogue”, a police source said.

A source close to the case told AFP the man “was armed with a knife and an iron bar, he approached police, who fired. The individual died”.

“It is not only the Jewish community that is affected. It is the entire city of Rouen that is bruised and in shock,” Rouen Mayor Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol wrote on X.

He made clear there were no other victims other than the attacker.

Two separate investigations have been opened, one into the fire at the synagogue and another into the circumstances of the death of the individual killed by the police, Rouen prosecutors said.

Such an investigation by France’s police inspectorate general is automatic whenever an individual is killed by the police.

The man threatened a police officer with a knife and the latter used his service weapon, said the Rouen prosecutor.

The dead man was not immediately identified, a police source said.

Asked by AFP, the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office said that it is currently assessing whether it will take up the case.

France has the largest Jewish community of any country after Israel and the United States, as well as Europe’s largest Muslim community.

There have been tensions in France in the wake of the October 7th attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel, followed by the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

Red hand graffiti was painted onto France’s Holocaust Memorial earlier this week, prompted anger including from President Emmanuel Macron who condemned “odious anti-Semitism”.

“Attempting to burn a synagogue is an attempt to intimidate all Jews. Once again, there is an attempt to impose a climate of terror on the Jews of our country. Combating anti-Semitism means defending the Republic,” Yonathan Arfi, the president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF). wrote on X.

France was hit from 2015 by a spate of Islamist attacks that also hit Jewish targets. There have been isolated attacks in recent months and France’s security alert remains at its highest level.