Fugitive Wanted for Violent Crimes in France Reportedly Free in Morocco

His arrest by Interpol in Marrakech on January 10 had put an end to 22 months of flight, initiated on March 8, 2023, when he had left his trial in Besançon. He was sentenced there to seven years in prison for seriously injuring a man by gunshot in Planoise in December 2020, targeting another person on the background of drug trafficking. He was already known for similar acts, recalls Est Républicain.

During his flight, he is suspected in three other cases: a shooting in Planoise with a Kalashnikov-type weapon seriously injuring a person (June 2023); an assault in Chalezeule with two alleged accomplices, where a man (20 days of ITT) and an intervening witness (45 days of ITT, hit by a car) were injured (November 2023); and participation in a fatal shooting in Dijon with a war weapon (November 2023).

The arrest in Morocco (with a forged French passport) had been confirmed by the Besançon prosecutor, Étienne Manteaux, who had expressed confidence in the extradition. "I would like to express my satisfaction in this case since it is the high spectrum of delinquency," he had declared on January 13. "It had been almost two years that he was wanted, two years too many. Admittedly, justice takes its time, but always ends up arresting individuals."

The man also holds Algerian nationality.