Gard. Murder of Little Hocine, Killed While Going to Buy Jam: a New Appeal for Witnesses

A call for witnesses was re-launched in May 2025 in the investigation into the murder of a 9-year-old Algerian boy, Hocine Batouche, who disappeared and was found dead in 1999 in Alès, Gard. The case, which had not been resolved for more than two decades, was the subject of a further attempt by the judiciary to collect evidence that could advance the investigation. On 10 July 1999, Hocine Batouche left her family home in Alès to go to the Super …

The nine-year-old Hocine Batouche had disappeared on 10 July 1999 in Alès. His body had been found a month later. "We need testimony," the public prosecutor insists.

Nine-year-old Hocine Batouche disappeared on July 10, 1999, in Alès. His body was found a month later. "We need testimonies," insists the public prosecutor.

INFO OBJECTIVE GARD. This is one of the most enigmatic criminal cases that shook the Gard. Yet, twenty-six years later, she remains unsolved. "I feel that everyone has forgotten my child's face. There are a lot of television shows or reports devoted to child disappearances or child murders. But for my son, even in Alès, no one remembers that my little boy was killed and that his killer was never found," the boy's mother told our editor, in a rar…