Aurélien N’Zuzi Zola, known professionally as Zola, has been arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and assault after prosecutors say a 19-year-old fan who went to the rapper’s home seeking a photograph was seized and held in the property’s cellar.
Authorities allege the incident occurred on Nov. 6 in Le Pin, Seine-et-Marne, on the outskirts of Paris. Prosecutors say Zola emerged with masked, armed accomplices; the victim’s friends fled but the 19-year-old was caught, dragged back into the house and detained for roughly two hours.
“During the two hours that followed, both inside and outside the said home, the victim was subjected to numerous acts of violence in the form of punches, kicks, insults and verbal threats,” public prosecutor Jean-Baptiste Bladier said.
Prosecutors allege the attackers forced the man to strip, set his clothes on fire, and threatened him with firearms. At one point a handgun was reportedly placed against his temple and its barrel pushed into his mouth; investigators also say there were bursts of gunfire from a long gun fired close to the victim.
The complaint states the assailants made remarks about the man’s ethnicity and told him not to fear for his life because they did not want to "go to prison for a little white girl," according to prosecutors. The victim’s phone and bank card were reportedly stolen, his car’s tyres were slashed and its windows smashed, and he was threatened with death if he reported the incident.
The young man sought refuge with relatives nearby. Prosecutors say he was physically unable to work for six days and suffered psychological trauma that kept him off work for 35 days.
Charges and legal status
Zola, 26, and three other men have been charged with kidnapping, aggravated assault, theft, criminal damage and possession of a weapon. The defendants have either denied the allegations or remained silent, the public prosecutor said. Authorities have cited telephone exchanges between those involved as part of the case evidence.
Zola requested additional time to prepare his defence and was placed in pre-trial detention for an initial four days. The next adversarial hearing is scheduled for Nov. 26.
Background
Zola, who is of Congolese descent, has released three French-language albums and is best known for the song "Amber." He has a substantial streaming audience, with more than three million monthly listeners on Spotify, and sold 24,000 copies of his second album, Survie, in its first seven days in 2020.
