“If he is extradited after six months, things will have gone quickly,” according to Mr. Philippe Ohayon, who answered questions from BFMTV this Easter weekend. Félix Bingui’s lawyer does not believe the announcements made by Gérald Darmanin and Éric Dupond-Moretti in March on a rapid procedure, the Minister of Justice affirming ten days ago that the drug trafficker was “on the verge of being extradited.”
Nicknamed “The Cat”, the alleged leader of the Marseille Yoda gang was arrested on March 8 in Casablanca, Morocco, on the basis of an arrest warrant from a Marseille investigating judge for “importing drugs in gangs”. organized, transport, detention, acquisition, transfer of narcotics, criminal association […]money laundering and non-proof of resources,” the Marseille prosecutor’s office said in a press release.
But there is no mention of “narchomicides”, these settling of scores between the two Marseille clans, Yoda and DZ Mafia, for drug trafficking. Which could create problems between the two countries if France flouted the principle of specialty. Explanations.
What procedure between Morocco and France for extraditions?
“There is no simplified procedure with Morocco. The request must already receive a favorable opinion from the Rabat Court of Cassation. Then, an extradition decree is required from the King of Morocco. It is a sovereign country. Even when the person accepts his extradition, the procedure can take time,” explains Félix Bingui’s lawyer on BFMTV.
The two countries, which jointly fight against terrorism and the hunt for French drug traffickers, who take vacations on the other side of the Mediterranean, signed an extradition agreement in 2008 in Rabat.
The Kamel Meziani case
But for sixteen years, relations have not always been good, particularly due to the principle of specialty. In the code of criminal procedure, it obliges the requesting State, in this case France, to convict or prosecute the extradited defendant only for the offense which motivated the extradition. It appears in article 8 of the convention signed between the two countries.
However, there are already several precedents in which France is accused of having flouted this principle. This is the case for Kamel Meziani, extradited in 2019 from Morocco to Paris, and who is awaiting the decision of the cassation appeal, filed by his lawyers, on Wednesday. They argue that their client was extradited for a drug trafficking case in Marseille, and that he cannot therefore also be tried for trafficking in the Paris region.