French anti drugs activist vows to continue speaking out after murders of his two brothers

A well-known French anti-drugs campaigner has said he refuses to be silenced after the killing of his younger brother, five years after his older brother was also murdered by criminals linked to drug trafficking. Writing in Le Monde, 22-year-old Amine Kessaci said he would continue fighting against drug-related violence despite attempts to intimidate him.

His brother Mehdi, aged 20, was shot dead last Wednesday while parking his car in central Marseille. Authorities believe the attack was a warning aimed at Amine from powerful gangs in the city. The killing has been described by French ministers as a turning point in the country’s deepening struggle with drug related crime.

“Yesterday I lost my brother. Today I speak out,” Amine wrote in his opinion piece. He said those behind the violence aim to break communities, suppress resistance and frighten anyone willing to speak the truth. He described the attack as an attempt to silence him and others who are challenging the influence of drug networks.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said after a high level meeting on drug crime at the Elysée Palace that Mehdi’s murder was clearly a premeditated killing meant to intimidate. He said it marked a worrying escalation in the level of violence used by the gangs.

This is the second tragedy to strike the Kessaci family. In 2020, Amine’s older brother Brahim, then 22, was found dead in a burned out car. That murder pushed Amine to create his organisation Conscience, which works to highlight the impact of drug trafficking on working class neighbourhoods. He later wrote a book called Marseille Wipe your Tears, an account of growing up in a city where drug warfare shapes everyday life.

In his article, Amine revealed that police recently warned him to leave Marseille due to threats to his life. He attended Mehdi’s funeral wearing a bulletproof vest and surrounded by police protection. He wrote that speaking out is now a matter of survival and urged the public to show courage and the government to take stronger action.

Mehdi’s death has once again drawn national attention to the scale of the drug trafficking problem in France. Experts warn that the drug economy is now so large that it rivals the resources of state institutions. According to Senator Étienne Blanc, the trade generates around seven billion euros a year, equal to about seventy percent of the justice ministry’s budget. He estimates that around two hundred fifty thousand people are involved in the drug business, more than the total number of police and gendarmes in the country.

France also has an estimated 1.1 million cocaine users, according to Le Monde. Officials and campaigners say the combination of rising demand, lucrative networks and growing violence is making the situation increasingly difficult to control.