Suspected of the murder of Philippine, a 19-year-old student, Taha Oualidat was indicted and placed in pre-trial detention this Wednesday.
Taha Oualidat is the main suspect in the murder of Philippine, a 19-year-old student whose body was found in the Bois de Boulogne in Paris at the end of September. This Wednesday, November 6, he was handed over to the French authorities, even though he had fled to Switzerland. He initially refused extradition. The transfer of the suspect took place without incident in Haute-Savoie, in Annemasse.
He was then presented before an investigating judge who indicted him for “murder accompanied or followed by another crime, rape, theft and fraud, as a repeat legal offender”, indicated the Paris prosecutor’s office. The suspect was then placed in pre-trial detention.
During his interrogation, the 22-year-old Moroccan remained silent, as reported by BFMTV. He appeared looking worried, head down, black hair pulled back, wearing a jogging suit. The judge of freedoms and detention finally declared a closed session: no information on this hearing for the press. At the end, the defendant’s lawyer made no statement.
What sentence for the suspect in Philippine’s murder?
The Paris prosecutor’s office indicated that the suspect, who will be tried, faced “life imprisonment”, which represents at least 22 years of imprisonment taking into account what the law sets as a “safety period”. For certain very serious crimes and depending on the circumstances, this security period can last up to 30 years.
“Investigations are now continuing under the direction of the investigating judges in charge of the case with the aim of establishing the circumstances of the commission of the facts and the background of the person indicted.”
The profile of the suspect had provoked strong reactions in France since he had already been convicted of rape in 2021 of a student in a forest but was released from prison in 2024. He was placed in an administrative detention center in Metz then that at the same time, an obligation to leave French territory (OQTF) was issued against him. On September 3, he was authorized to leave the center but was under house arrest in a hotel in Yonne where he did not show up. Taha Oualidat thus disappeared into the wild, a few weeks before Philippine’s body was found.
