The defendant, who pleads not guilty, is notably accused of having perpetrated 11 murders aggravated by the qualification of anti-Semitic act. He faces the death penalty. Jury selection for the federal court in Pennsylvania (northeast) began on April 24, for a period of four weeks, and the trial really started on Tuesday to judge Robert Bowers, a 50-year-old white trucker, prosecuted for 63 counts of accusation.
On October 27, 2018, he burst into the “Tree of Life” synagogue in Pittsburgh, armed with three pistols and a semi-automatic assault rifle. Shouting “all Jews must die,” he opened fire and killed 11 people, including a 97-year-old faithful, in the midst of Shabbat ceremonies in a historic Jewish neighborhood in Pittsburgh, committing the bloodiest attack against Jews in UNITED STATES. Before that, he had posted racist, anti-Semitic and anti-immigrant messages on a far-right social network.
Death penalty debate
Then-President Republican Donald Trump had sought the death penalty for Mr. Bowers, a request tracked by the Justice Department and confirmed after Democratic President Joe Biden’s term began on January 20, 2021. But then that candidate Biden had pledged in 2020 to abolish the death penalty at the national level, this trial revives in the United States the debates around this supreme punishment still practiced in many American states.
As early as 2019, the Pittsburgh federal prosecutor had indicated that he would seek the death penalty for Robert Bowers, citing his “lack of remorse” and “his hatred and contempt” for Jews.
Resurgence of anti-Semitic violence
This trial, which should last until July according to the press, takes place in the context of an increase in racist and anti-Semitic acts in the United States, which have reached the highest level in 30 years, according to statistics from the federal police, the FBI, quoted in April by the Washington Post.
According to the United States Anti-Semitism Organization Anti Defamation League, the country experienced a record number of 2,717 anti-Semitic acts in 2021 (assaults, verbal attacks, material damage, etc.), an increase of 34% over one year. In 2022, this association counted 3,697 anti-Semitic acts (+ 36% over one year), unheard of since 1979, according to the Washington Post.
2023-05-30 17:50:00
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