Death of Philippine: the suspect, arrested in Switzerland, refuses to be extradited by simplified procedure to France

The individual, aged 22, was arrested three days after the incident at Geneva train station. He therefore remains in detention pending the final decision on his extradition.

The main suspect in the murder of Philippine in France in September, who was arrested in Switzerland, is refusing to be extradited, the Federal Justice Ministry said on Wednesday.

“The person being prosecuted has not consented to a simplified extradition”, a spokeswoman for the Federal Office of Justice said in an email to AFP, confirming a report by Swiss public television RTS.

The Paris prosecutor's office also confirmed to AFP that it had “learned from the Swiss justice system that the suspect had been questioned on October 16, and had refused his extradition by simplified procedure”.

“The extradition procedure by the ordinary form is following its course”, specified the Paris prosecutor's office, which opened, on September 21, a judicial investigation for rape and homicide after the discovery of the body of Philippine, a 19-year-old student at Paris-Dauphine University.

The young woman had been found buried in the Bois de Boulogne, in the west of Paris. Taha O., a 22-year-old Moroccan and the main suspect, was arrested at Geneva's main train station on 24 September.

An extradition request

France filed an extradition request on October 9. The Federal Ministry of Justice can follow the will of the accused or deviate from it and demand his extradition.

In this case, the accused can appeal 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 have been exhausted”, specifies the ministry's information sheet on the procedures extradition.

This murder has sparked immense emotion in France and also a virulent public debate. The suspect was already convicted in 2021 for rape, then released in June 2024, "at the end of his sentence" according to the Paris prosecutor's office. He was then placed in an administrative detention center (CRA) in Metz (east).

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 reporting obligation, he was placed on the wanted persons file the day before the murder, on September 19.

He was subject to an obligation to leave the territory (OQTF), which sparked strong reactions, particularly from the far right. Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau also urged us to “develop our legal arsenal”.