JUSTICE – He finally accepted his extradition from Switzerland to France. Taha O., suspected of the murder of the Philippine student, was handed over to the French authorities this Wednesday, November 6, BFMTV learned first. He must be presented to an investigating judge.
Death of Filipina: for feminists, immigration is a bad reading framework
The transfer of this 22-year-old Moroccan took place without incident in Annemasse, a town located in Haute-Savoie, on the border with Switzerland, a source close to the matter told AFP.
On the run in Switzerland before his arrest
He had fled to Switzerland after the murder of Philippine, a 19-year-old student whose body was discovered buried in Paris in the Bois de Boulogne. He was arrested at the end of September in Geneva. A judicial investigation was opened in Paris for rape and homicide.
Taha O. was heard again this Monday by the public prosecutor of the canton of Geneva and had confirmed his consent to being handed over to France according to a simplified extradition procedure, the Paris prosecutor’s office indicated.
France filed an extradition request on October 9 but the suspect initially refused to be extradited. His lawyer in Switzerland, Me Florence Yersin, announced last Tuesday that he had finally accepted this extradition “after understanding the ins and outs of the procedure”believing that it was“an informed choice on his part”.
A strong emotion in France
The suspect was already convicted in 2021 for rape, then released in June 2024, “at the end of the sentence”according to the Paris prosecutor’s office. He was then placed in an administrative detention center in Metz. Upon his release, he was placed under house arrest in a hotel in Yonne where he never went. Having failed to comply with his reporting obligation, he was included in the wanted persons file the day before the murder, September 19.
He was under an obligation to leave the territory, which provoked strong reactions, in particular from the far right. After this murder, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau also urged “develop (the) legal arsenal”.
On September 26, Emmanuel Macron expressed “the emotion of the whole Nation” after a “heinous crime” and felt that it was necessary “better protect the French every day”.
In a letter addressed to AFP, a previous victim of the suspect spoke to nuance the debates and demand more resources to prevent “the recidivism of sexist and sexual crimes”.
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