Just a week after the murder of young Philippine in the Bois de Boulogne near Paris, involving a Moroccan migrant facing deportation, another murder has stirred up French public opinion: that of a 17-year-old man, Kilian Binard, who was stabbed to death on Sunday, September 29th in Normandy. This time, the suspect is of Algerian nationality.
According to the initial findings of the investigation, the stabbing occurred in the early hours of Sunday, September 29th, as the young man was leaving a nightclub near Bayeux. The victim, a 17-year-old boxer, became involved in a fight involving around twenty people in the nightclub car park. The suspect allegedly hit Kilian in the back and neck with a knife recovered from his car.
The suspect, an Algerian national, was in possession of a ten-year residence permit that had recently been renewed. The permit was withdrawn after Kilian’s murder. The man initially denied all charges against him, before admitting that he had picked up a knife during the fight, “unfolded the blade and used it to strike the first person in front of him, which he said had no intention of killing,” according to the prosecutor in charge of the investigation.
An ‘alleged accomplice’ has gone to the gendarmerie and is to be heard as a witness. He has been under an OQTF (obligation to leave French territory) since January 2023—an OQTF, as in the case of Philippine’s potential murderer, that has not been applied. He is also on the list of wanted people and has already been identified by the police for “rebellion, resisting arrest, and driving without a licence,” according to Le Figaro.
The trainer of the boxing club in which Kilian, who had recently won the title of young hopeful for Normandy in his discipline, was enrolled, expressed his grief on Facebook in the following vehement terms: “What kind of s***** France is this, where you’re not safe anywhere?”
Kilian’s murder, at a time when the young Philippine, another victim of judicial and migratory laxity, has only just been buried, is arousing public anger.
Several right-wing personalities spoke out against the dramatic sequence of events. “It’s always the same people who kill and always the same people who die,” posted Éric Zemmour on X. In just a few hours, the hashtags #kilian and #justicepourkilian took over from #philippine and #justicepourphilippine, which appeared a week ago.
The suspect has been remanded in custody.
