The Geneva prosecutor's office has given the green light for the extradition of Taha O. to France, as part of a simplified procedure, the Paris prosecutor's office announced on Monday. The 22-year-old Moroccan was arrested on September 24 at Geneva's main station as the main suspect in the murder of Philippine, the 19-year-old student found dead in the Bois de Boulogne, in western Paris, on September 21. september. The Paris public prosecutor's office has opened a judicial investigation for rape and homicide.
Informed of the defendant's arrest, the French authorities requested his extradition to Switzerland on October 9. But Taha O. opposed his extradition. “The accused person did not consent to simplified extradition,” informed a spokesperson for the Federal Office of Justice. The defense was given “14 days to file determinations with the Federal Office of Justice. And during this period, I was able to speak with my client about the conditions of extradition,” explained Florence Yersin, the defendant’s lawyer, last Tuesday.
Read: Moroccan arrested for Philippine's murder
Finally, the latter managed to convince Taha O. “My client made his decision after understanding the ins and outs of the extradition procedure […]. It’s an informed choice on his part,” she said. Sentenced in 2021 to seven years in prison by the juvenile court for the rape of a young woman in Bois Taverny in Val-d'Oise, the Moroccan was released last June, “at the end of his sentence », According to the Paris prosecutor’s office. He has been subject to an Obligation to leave French territory (OQTF) since June 18.
After the arrest of Taha O. in Geneva, the Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, urged us to “evolve the French legal arsenal”. On September 26, a few days after Philippine's murder, French President Emmanuel Macron already insisted on the urgency of “better protecting the French”, expressing “the emotion of the entire Nation” after this “heinous crime”.
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