Murder of student in France reignites debate on deportations of repeat foreign offenders

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” This crime is abominable “, writes the new Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau after the arrest in Switzerland of a Moroccan suspected of the murder of a student in France, committed while he was under expulsion from the territory. The affair has provoked many reactions, with several politicians from both the right and the left calling into question ” the criminal and administrative chain “.

” It is up to us, public officials, to refuse to accept this inevitability and to develop our legal arsenal to protect the French people. “, believes the tenant of Place Beauvau. A statement that will not displease the National Rally, which is planning to submit a bill to “ facilitate the expulsion of foreigners who pose a threat to France “. ” A foreigner under OQTF must go from the prison box to the plane box, without going through the release box “, considers RN MP, Edwige Diaz. ” Too many legislative locks make the expulsion of a delinquent foreigner inapplicable by the administrations. With this text which lifts restrictions, we intend to make systematic the expulsion of any foreigner who represents a threat ” she adds.

A suspect already convicted

The body of Philippine, a 19-year-old student at Paris-Dauphine University, was found buried Saturday in the Bois de Boulogne, in western Paris. It was her family who reported her missing. The student had last been seen Friday at lunchtime, at the university located very close to the woods. An investigation into homicide and rape was opened Tuesday and an arrest warrant was issued at the end of the day against a man, identified thanks to the exploitation of video surveillance images, in particular from the bank where he made a withdrawal using the bank card stolen from the victim, and ” telephone investigations “, the prosecution said.

He was arrested on Tuesday in the canton of Geneva, Switzerland, ” under a measure under foreign law and was subsequently identified as a suspect in a murder committed in Paris “, the spokeswoman for the Swiss Ministry of Justice told AFP. France now has 18 days to file an extradition request.

Aged 22 and in an irregular situation, this Moroccan national was convicted in 2021 for a rape committed in 2019 when he was a minor, and had been ” released, at the end of his sentence, in June 2024 “, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office. He was not granted parole, according to a French judicial source, he was released at the end of his sentence, benefiting from automatic reductions that the law still allowed at the time of his conviction.

He was released from detention on June 20 and placed in an administrative detention center in Metz, in eastern France, according to a source close to the case. On September 3, a French judge validated his release from the detention center. A measure accompanied by an obligation to report. On September 4, Morocco made ” obtain expulsion authorization ” to the French authorities, according to the same source. But the suspect was already out. The day before the murder, on September 19, he had been placed on the wanted persons file, because he did not respect his obligation to report, according to the same source.

For left-wing elected officials, the problem is therefore not the legislation, but its application. The OQTF had to be executed, it was a problem of response of the Moroccan authorities. Let us stop weighing on the law what today is rather linked to slowness in a system “, thus believes the socialist deputy Arthur Delaporte. ” When there are OQTFs, they must be applied. But the question is also the number of OQTFs issued in France, which is the highest in Europe. “, adds his colleague from the New Popular Front, the rebellious deputy Antoine Léaument.

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