Some 27 people have appeared in a Paris juvenile court over the brutal torture and killing of a Jewish man, in a case that sparked fears of a resurgence of anti-Semitism in France.

Youssouf Fofana, 28, the alleged leader of the group, is accused of the murder and torture of Ilan Halimi in February 2006 and faces life imprisonment if convicted.

The other 26 accomplices, aged 17 to 32, face charges ranging from failing to report an offence to kidnapping and sequestering.

Halimi, 23, died shortly after being found naked and handcuffed in south Paris, following his kidnap and torture which had lasted 24 days.

Street protests

His murder stirred debate on anti-Semitisim in France after police initially refused to consider the case as a hate-crime.

Hamili's family's lawyers insist he was targeted because he was Jewish.

Isabelle Coutant-Peyre, Fofana's lawyer, told the court her client was not "the devil" but had been the victims of a "political and religious marketing campaign".

Halimi went missing in January 2006 while on a date he had met at his workplace - a Paris mobile phone shop.

The girl lured Halimi to the basement of a building, where he was attacked and subdued.

His murder came month after France's high-immigrant suburbs exploded into rioting in late 2005.

Tens of thousands of people took to the street to protest anti-Semitism some two weeks after his body was found.

The trial is being heard by a juvenile court because two of the defendants were minors at the time of the crime.