A moment of contemplation. This Friday afternoon, Philippine’s funeral will take place at the Saint-Louis Cathedral in Versailles. The family of the student found dead in the Bois de Boulogne last Saturday asked for a certain discretion, according to BFMTV.
This celebration comes a little less than a week after a murder which arouses emotion and debate on the journey of the suspect, convicted of rape and awaiting deportation.
On the eve of these funerals, Emmanuel Macron expressed on Thursday “the emotion of the entire Nation” after a “heinous and atrocious crime”, and considered that it was necessary “to better protect the French every day”. “Obviously, justice will do its job,” declared the head of state during a press conference in Montreal.
A little earlier, the new Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau said he had a heartfelt thought for the young woman “and her family”. “All lessons must be learned,” he added on the occasion of the departure ceremony of the Director General of the National Police (DGPN) Frédéric Veaux.
A vigil on Wednesday evening already
The minister called on Wednesday for an evolution of the “legal arsenal” after the arrest in Switzerland of the murder suspect, a Moroccan national under an obligation to leave French territory (OQTF).
Wednesday evening, a prayer vigil at the Saint-Pierre du Lac church in Montigny-le-Bretonneux (Yvelines), attended by Philippine and her family, brought together around a hundred people including her parents, according to a police source.
The body of the 19-year-old young woman, a student at the University of Paris-Dauphine, was found buried not far from this campus in the Bois de Boulogne, in the west of Paris, during a hunt organized on Saturday afternoon. noon. A judicial investigation for rape and homicide was opened by the Paris prosecutor’s office.
Political reactions
The fact that the suspect, convicted of rape, is awaiting deportation has sparked numerous political reactions. Several political leaders, from the right and the left, have questioned “the criminal and administrative chain” in this case, judging that the suspect should not have been released before obtaining the pass allowing his expulsion to Morocco. .
Sentenced in 2021 for a rape committed in 2019, Taha O. was released, “at the end of his sentence”, in June, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office. Upon his release from prison, the 22-year-old man was placed in an administrative detention center (CRA) in Metz. His placement was extended three times, before a judge of freedoms and detention (JLD) validated his release from the CRA.
The JLD justified its decision by the fact that “the person concerned did not request asylum and did not oppose the removal measure” from France. The suspect had also not engaged in behavior constituting a “disturbance to public order” during his stay in the CRA, likely to authorize a fourth extension. The measure was accompanied by an obligation to clock in and house arrest in a hotel in Yonne, where Taha O. will never go.
The day before the murder, September 19, he had been included in the wanted persons file because he did not respect his obligation to report.
