French officials blocked the claim, insisting “a crime could not be established” because no killer had been traced
A COMPENSATION claim by the two young sisters orphaned in the unsolved Alps murders was rejected by French authorities — because the mystery killer has not been found.
Zeena al-Hilli, then four, and Zainab, seven, from Surrey, were on a family holiday when a gunman shot dead their dad Saad, 50, his wife Iqbal, 47, and mum-in-law Suhaila, 74, at a layby in Annecy in 2012.
Relatives who adopted the traumatised girls requested a payout on their behalf from the French criminal injuries compensation authority.
But officials blocked the claim and refused any money — insisting “a crime could not be established” because no killer had been traced.
However, with the help of British lawyers, the girls — now 13 and ten — have made the authorities climb down and are taking them to court to seek an estimated £500,000 compensation package.
Their uncle Zaid, 59 — brother of murdered Saad told The Sun on Sunday: “It is the French authorities at their most incompetent.
“The girls’ lives have been turned upside down. They’ve lost their parents, they spent weeks in hospital after the attack, they were even in foster care for a while.
“To tell them there wasn’t a crime as they haven’t been able to find the perpetrator is an insult. They were there and know what happened.”
The compensation appeal to CIVI — the French equivalent of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority — was made just over a year ago.
Kieran Mitchell, a specialist travel lawyer from UK firm Slater and Gordon, which is representing the family, said: “The al-Hilli children lost their parents in an unimaginably brutal and vicious attack they were lucky to survive.
“So when the French underwriters refused to consider their case it was a bitter blow.
“The legal process has been extremely difficult for the family and without legal assistance they could potentially have been left with nothing.
“We argued that CIVI was hiding behind a technicality and the children were entitled to a financial settlement.
“We’re pleased we’ve won our argument that will allow the children to get the settlement they desperately need.”
The Alps killings are one of the biggest unsolved murders of modern British history.
The mystery killer fired 25 bullets from close range in massacring Iraq-born Saad, Iqbal and Suhaila inches from the girls. Passing cyclist Sylvian Mollier, 45, was also killed.
THE al-Hilli sisters were orphaned as their parents and gran were murdered in the Alps.
The killer has never been found, so the French criminal injuries compensation authority refuse to compensate them.
Appalling.
How can that be right?
What more evidence do they need?
British lawyers are now helping their case.
Good.
These girls have been through hell and back.
They are lucky to be alive.
For French authorities to cower behind bureaucracy and refuse them help is vile.
Cops were criticised for opening the crime scene just days after the massacre, with some experts saying it led to vital evidence being destroyed.
A year after the attack police arrested Saad’s brother Zaid, before later freeing him.
In 2016 new prosecutors made Belgian Michel Hecht a key suspect. But months later cops admitted they had dropped inquiries into him.
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