The father of Sébastien Raoult, a 21-year-old Frenchman wanted by US authorities for his alleged involvement in a cybercrime case and imprisoned in Rabat, called on the French government on Monday to prevent his extradition from Morocco to the United States.
“ I ask the Prime Minister [Elisabeth Borne] that she contact the Americans so that they stop their pursuits in America, so that my son can be judged in France and prove his innocence “said Paul Raoult, 63 years old. Also assuring that his son was innocent, Paul Raoult denounces a “ miscarriage of justice “. “ My son did not benefit from the judicial protection of France and France did not apply the principle of jurisdiction “, he regretted.
According to the Moroccan police, Sébastien Raoult was arrested on May 31 at Rabat-Salé airport while he was the subject of a red notice issued by Interpol at the request of American justice, within the framework of a case of cyberpiracy against companies, American in particular, including Microsoft.
Incarcerated since June 2 in the prison of Tiflet 2, near Rabat, “ he keeps his spirits up according to his father, who manages to reach him by telephone about once a week. “ He has a good mind […], but finally it’s starting to last, it’s been two months now that he’s dying of heat in a Moroccan prison “, he lamented. “ What he is accused of are acts he allegedly committed in France, and there it begins to raise questions “, also underlined Paul Raoult.
Judicial sovereignty
Calling on Minister of Justice Eric Dupond-Moretti to come out of “ his silence “, the father of Sébastien Raoult wishes” that he arranges so that [son] son returns to France, where he can be judged “Assuring that he was not trying to escape justice.
Sébastien Raoult’s lawyer, Me Philippe Ohayon, also called on the Keeper of the Seals on Sunday to intervene so that his client is not extradited to the United States, but to France. Sébastien Raoult incurs a sentence of 116 years prison in the United States for the acts attributed to him.
If ever a French company is the victim of the same hacking, I don’t think the Americans will let us investigate on American territory. I don’t think the Americans would offer us the file. The natural judge is the judge of the place of the offence, because that is where the evidence is. This is where the person can defend themselves.
Me Philippe Ohayon, lawyer for Sébastien Raoult: “Our judicial borders are worth as much as our political borders”
(With AFP)