A week after Philippine Le Noir de Carlan was found dead in the Bois de Boulogne. Questions about the extradition of the main suspect arise.
The essentials
- Philippine Le Noir de Carlan was found dead last Saturday September 21 in the Bois de Boulogne. She had disappeared the day before near her university, Paris-Dauphine. Thousands of people gathered on Friday September 27 for his funeral, organized at Saint-Louis Cathedral in Versailles.
- An investigation into rape and homicide was opened to explain the murder of the 19-year-old student.
- A suspect was arrested in Switzerland on Tuesday evening. Taha O., 22, was probably trying to flee France. This young Moroccan was subject to an OQTF (obligation to leave French territory).
- France will request his extradition. The procedure is almost assured but could take time, a few months in the worst case. The suspect could refuse to be extradited to France, which would lengthen the repatriation procedure, and de facto slow down the investigation into Philippine’s murder.
- The suspect was subject to an OQTF after being convicted in a similar rape case. According to the Ministry of the Interior, reported by RTLat the end of his sentence, he was released on September 3, due to lack of a pass issued in time to allow his expulsion to Morocco.
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12:05 – The suspect can refuse extradition, which would slow down the procedure by several months
France wishes to file an extradition request to bring back Taha O., suspect in Philippine’s death. Once the request has been filed, “the suspect can accept or refuse extradition”, explains Me Jean-Charles Teissedre, lawyer specializing in extradition procedures, at Parisian. If he accepts, his extradition will happen quickly, within 10 days. But if he refuses, the procedure could take weeks or even months.
Swiss justice will then have to examine the regularity of the extradition request, namely whether an arrest warrant has been issued, whether the extradition conditions are met, and whether the person’s rights are respected. If it gives a favorable opinion for extradition, the suspect will be handed over to French justice. If she gives an unfavorable opinion, “the suspect is released, he does what he wants”, indicates the magistrate. However, there is little doubt about extradition. “France will get it,” specifies Jean-Charles Teissedre. “The only unknown is time.”
11:30 – France must prepare a case to request the extradition of Taha O
As soon as a suspect is arrested, a country has 18 days to file an extradition request, a deadline which can be extended to 40 days in certain cases, indicated Me Dilbadi Gasimov, lawyer in international law, to the newspaper The Parisian. France must therefore put together a case to “regularize” the provisional arrest of Taha O, suspected of having killed Philippine last week.
11:17 – France will request the extradition of Taha O., suspected of having killed Philippine, arrested in Switzerland
Taha O., main suspect in Philippine’s death, was arrested Tuesday in Switzerland. France to file extradition request, reported Thursday The Parisian. The judicial authorities hope “to be given [le suspect] as quickly as possible.”
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Death by asphyxiation and gray areas
The body of the 3rd year financial economics and engineering student at Paris Dauphine University was discovered half-buried not far from the university canteen, where she was seen one last time at 2 p.m. on the 20th. september. The Parisian revealed that the forensic doctors responsible for the autopsy concluded on Sunday that he died of asphyxiation.
However, the exact circumstances of Philippine’s death and the modus operandi of her potential assassin still remain to be clarified. Because if strangulation is the first idea that comes to mind when we talk about death by asphyxiation, the forensic doctors would be clear: Philippine would not have been strangled. The absence of any trace of tightening would even tend to rule out this hypothesis, notes The Parisianwho also claims that the rumors according to which Philippine was the victim of beatings are false.
To explain the asphyxiation, a daily source in the capital mentions “a compression”, without further details being provided at this time. The “other examinations and expertise” to be carried out, mentioned on Sunday evening by the Paris prosecutor’s office, could be explained by this lack of clarity of the situation. But an expert immediately points out that not everything can be determined by forensic doctors and that we will have to wait for the results of the investigative work to find out more.
Philippine’s body found partly buried
Friday afternoon, the student left the University around 2 p.m., after having lunch at Crous. She had to go to her parents in Yvelines, in Montigny-le-Bretonneux. This was the last time she was seen. Realizing that their daughter was not arriving, her parents tried to call her, without success. The young woman’s sister was the first to raise the alarm, the same evening, at around 11 p.m. by going to the police station in the 16th arrondissement of the capital. A procedure for a disturbing disappearance was then opened.
Concern quickly grew among those close to him. Philippine wasn’t used to being unreachable for very long. His phone was limited to the Bois de Boulogne for the last time. A hunt was then organized on Saturday to try to find the missing young woman. Nearly fifty people helped the family by going there. His phone was first found, before the discovery of the body, “around 20 meters from where the device was discovered, behind a mound”, specifies The Parisian.
At 4:50 p.m., Philippine’s body was discovered, partly buried, near a hiking trail. “The victim was formally identified late in the evening” this Sunday, the Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed to the Parisianespecially thanks to the chain around her neck and the clothes she wore. An investigation was opened for intentional homicide and entrusted to the criminal brigade.
A man with a pickaxe seen by witnesses
From now on, a question must be raised: what was Philippine Le Noir de Carlan doing at the back of her University when she was supposed to go to her parents in Yvelines? In fact, the RER station of line C, which the student was supposed to take, is “on the other side”, explains The Parisian. “It might happen that he went for a little walk there [au bois de Boulogne ndlr.]just to get some fresh air, to get some fresh air,” an acquaintance of the family said on Tuesday on a daily basis.
According to information from Figarowitnesses reportedly saw a man with a surgical mask and carrying a pickaxe heading towards the Bois de Boulogne lake. Did the individual, “dark-haired about 1m80”, constitute the start of a lead for the investigators? The geolocation of Philippine’s phone would in any case have guided the investigators’ research, according to people close to the investigation to the 24-hour news channel. At the same time, the hearings continued in recent days, and the relatives who participated in the search on Saturday were to be interviewed in the premises of the criminal brigade.
Shock and incomprehension in those around Philippine
On Monday, a minute of silence to pay tribute to Philippine was organized in the university’s reception hall, an opportunity for those who knew her to remember the person she was. She was “a very intelligent, caring girl, very supportive of her comrades and above all full of life”, testified to the Parisian a former teacher of the young woman. “She was brilliant and very hardworking. She was a class act. I often said to myself that she would surely have access to better masters than me,” confides to Figaro a student. And another classmate adds: “She was a very good student who loved reading. She was deeply kind. She was gentle and very discreet. She was not someone extravagant. She spent time with her family as soon as she could.”
While a prayer vigil was organized Sunday evening in the Saint-Pierre-du-Lac church, which the victim and her family attended, a supervisor of Philippine in the scouts also remembered her in the columns of Figaro. “She is very active, very kind and very proactive. She was always willing and available if there was a need to do anything or to motivate others,” he recalled.
This Monday, at the university, the insecurity in the neighboring Bois de Boulogne was unsurprisingly on everyone’s lips, but those who knew Philippine were wondering above all who could have blamed her. “She was very hardworking, really nice, a little shy and reserved. I don’t know who could have wanted to hurt her,” she confided to the Figaro a classmate. “I only knew her by sight, but she was a very nice girl who didn’t seem to have any problems”, also remarked to the Parisian an acquaintance.