The Court of Cassation of Morocco pronounced a « avis favorable » to the extradition to the United States of Frenchman Sébastien Raoult, suspected in a case of cybercrime, according to an official document consulted Monday by AFP.
In a July 20 ruling, the nation’s highest court “did not order” the extradition of the 21-year-old Frenchman, imprisoned for two months in Morocco, but said he was there « favorable », explained a Moroccan source familiar with the matter. Extradition itself can only be decided “by the Prime Minister, on the proposal of a commission also bringing together the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Justice”added the same source.
To justify its decision, the Court of Cassation indicates that the request for extradition was presented by the United States “within the period provided by law”, accompanied by all the necessary documents (arrest warrant, summary of the facts and information on the identity of the suspect). Furthermore, it specifies that the « crimes » for which it is claimed by the Americans “have their equivalents in the Moroccan penal code” and adds that “the extradition request fulfills all the conditions required by law”.
Punishable by 116 years in prison in the United States
Sébastien Raoult’s French lawyer, Philippe Ohayon, reacted by reiterating his request for the opening of a judicial inquiry in France, accompanied by a French arrest warrant to obtain the extradition of his client to France. This decision “strengthens us in our determination to obtain the extradition to France of Sébastien Raoult”he said. “We believe that Sébastien Raoult was not simply abandoned by France, but that he was sacrificed, in view of the Franco-American police operation of May 31 with the arrest in France of five other people in This folder “the same day as the arrest of his client in Morocco.
The case arouses a lot of emotion in France, where Sébastien Raoult’s father recently appealed to President Emmanuel Macron to come to his aid. The American authorities are calling for the extradition of the 21-year-old student from Epinal for his alleged involvement in a cybercrime case targeting companies, Americans in particular. According to the French weekly The Obs, the giant Microsoft would be one of them.
Sébastien Raoult has been incarcerated since June 2 in Tiflet 2 prison, near Rabat. He is liable to a sentence of one hundred and sixteen years in prison in the United States if convicted, according to Philippe Ohayon.