The main suspect in the murder of Philippine refuses to be extradited, public television RTS said on Wednesday.
The Federal Ministry of Justice will now have to rule.
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Philippine, 19, killed in Paris: an investigation and questions
He does not want to return to France. The main suspect in the murder of Philippine in Paris in September, and arrested in Switzerland, refuses to be extradited, public television RTS said on Wednesday.
“The accused person did not consent to simplified extradition“, indicated a spokesperson for the Federal Office of Justice in an email to AFP, confirming information from Swiss public television RTS. According to the latter, he indicated his refusal this Wednesday during a hearing before the public prosecutor.
The Federal Ministry of Justice can follow the wishes of the accused or deviate from it and demand his extradition. In this case, the accused can appeal all the way to the Federal Court, the highest legal authority in Switzerland, and he remains in detention until the end of the extradition procedure. “The ordinary procedure can last more than a year, particularly in complex cases and if all avenues of appeal are taken up.“, specifies the ministry’s information sheet on extradition procedures.
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Murder of Philippine: “I did everything to ensure that what happened to me would not be repeated”, writes a previous victim of the suspect in a letter
A judicial investigation was opened for rape and homicide after the discovery, on September 21, of Philippine’s body. This 19-year-old student at Paris-Dauphine University was found buried in the Bois de Boulogne, in western Paris. Taha O., a 22-year-old Moroccan, is the main suspect. He was arrested in Switzerland on September 24. “He is now detained in Switzerland, so there is a guarantee regarding his detention“, assured Didier Migaud, the Minister of Justice.
The suspect had already been 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 (CRA) in Metz. Upon his release, he was placed under house arrest in a hotel in Yonne, where he had never been. Having failed to comply with his obligation to report, 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), sparking strong reactions. particularly to the far right The Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, also urged “.develop our legal arsenal.
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