Murder of Philippine: the suspect indicted and imprisoned in Paris

Nearly a month and a half after his arrest in Switzerland, Taha O., the suspect in the murder of Philippine in Paris, was indicted this Wednesday on charges which put him at risk of life imprisonment.

Taha O., a 22-year-old Moroccan, was indicted in Paris for “murder accompanied by another repeat crime”, which makes him “risk life imprisonment”, the Paris prosecutor’s office said in a statement. the AFP. Also indicted for repeat rape, Taha O. appeared before a liberty and detention judge, who placed him in pre-trial detention, according to the prosecution.

Rape and homicide

He is suspected of the murder of Philippine, a 19-year-old student, whose body was discovered buried in Paris in the Bois de Boulogne at the end of September. A judicial investigation was opened in Paris for rape and homicide.

This Wednesday evening, at the hearing before the judge of freedoms and detention, the Moroccan appeared hunched, his gaze fixed on the ground, before the magistrate declared the case closed. Afterwards, his lawyer did not wish to comment.

Theft and fraud

The young man, with brown hair combed back and a brown beard, was extradited this Wednesday during the day from Switzerlandthe country where he fled after the events and where he was arrested on September 24. He was then presented to an investigating judge, who pronounced his indictment.

In addition to the charges for murder accompanied by a repeat crime and repeat rape, Taha O. is also being prosecuted for repeat theft, as well as repeat fraud for acts committed in Montreuil, according to the prosecution. According to the public prosecutor, he remained silent before the magistrate.

Extradition initially refused

France filed an extradition request on October 9 but the suspect initially refused to be extradited from Switzerland. His lawyer in this country, Me Florence Yersin, then announced that he had finally accepted this extradition “after having understood the ins and outs of the procedure”, believing that it was “an informed choice on his part”.

He was heard again on Monday by the public prosecutor of the canton of Geneva and confirmed his consent to being handed over to France according to a simplified extradition procedure.

Great emotion in France

Philippine’s murder caused immense emotion in France and also a virulent public debate. The suspect was already convicted in 2021 for rape, then released in June 2024, “at the end of his 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 (OQTF), which provoked strong reactions, in particular from the far right. After this murder and the arrest of the suspect in Switzerland, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau also urged “to develop (the) legal arsenal”.

“Heinous crime”

On September 26, President Macron expressed “the emotion of the entire Nation” after a “heinous crime” and considered that it was necessary “to better protect the French every day”.

In a letter addressed to AFP, a previous victim of the suspect spoke to nuance the debates. The “dysfunction” of the OQTF must not “obliterate the essential question of recidivism”, she underlined in her letter, authenticated by AFP.

“Even if this OQTF would have been respected, what international cooperation mechanisms exist to prevent the recurrence of sexist and sexual crimes by deported criminals? Our fraternity, our humanism, cannot stop at the gates of our borders,” she wrote.

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