Taha O. was placed in pre-trial detention this Wednesday, November 6 in the evening. The young woman was found dead in the Bois de Boulogne on September 21.
His lawyer in Switzerland had warned that he had finally agreed to his extradition: Taha O., the main suspect after the death of Philippine, found on September 21 in the Bois de Boulogne, was indicted this Wednesday, November 6 for “repeat murder and rape”, announced the Paris prosecutor’s office at the start of the evening, which makes him “risk life imprisonment”. He was handed over to the French authorities during the day, we learned from a source close to the matter, confirming information from BFM TV. The suspect appeared before a liberty and detention judge, who placed him in pre-trial detention, according to the prosecution.
The body of Philippine, a 19-year-old student at Paris-Dauphine University, was discovered on September 21 in the Bois de Boulogne, in western Paris, after several days of searching. The same day, the Paris prosecutor’s office opened a judicial investigation for rape and homicide.
A 22-year-old Moroccan national, Taha O., already convicted of rape in 2021, was released in June 2024 at the end of his sentence, then placed in an administrative detention center in Metz. He was then assigned to a hotel in Yonne, where he had never been, nor did he respect his obligation to clock in. Enough to include him in the wanted persons file the day before the murder, September 19. He was subject to an obligation to leave French territory, which sparked strong reactions, in particular from the far right. The Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, also demanded “develop our legal arsenal”.
Provisional imbroglio in the Senate
Tuesday evening, the proposal to extend the administrative detention of illegal aliens “dangerous” was nevertheless rejected by the Senate, at the request of the government which preferred to refer this question to the future immigration law. The senatorial right, an ally of the government, which intended to bring to fruition from the fall a measure dear to Beauvau, was asked by the executive to delay. In question, the extension to 180 days, or even 210 days in certain cases, of the duration of detention in an administrative detention center (CRA) for “foreigners sentenced to ban from French territory due to the commission of a serious sexual or violent offense”.
Currently, this duration is set at 90 days maximum, but the senatorial right wanted to align the law with a similar system already existing in terms of terrorism, i.e. 210 days. “The government fully shares the objective, without any ambiguity” but will prefer “include it in a suitable legislative vehicle”defended the minister, ultimately followed by the right and the centrists who had introduced the measure last week in committee.
Updated at 8 p.m. with the indictment of the suspect.
