“I have a target on my back”: Khadija’s fight to avoid being a future victim of femicide

Among the curious who came to admire the Eiffel Tower illuminated under the clear winter sky, there were about fifty on Monday 12 February, turning their backs on this majestic scenario, on the human rights square. The faces hidden under black surgical masks, signs in hand, are there to support Khadija – known on social media by her activist name, Khadija the Fighter – a young woman victim of domestic violence whose fate is today suspended by a decision diplomacy that goes beyond her and her lawyer, Maître Pauline Rongier.

An incomprehensible refusal of justice

On placards displayed remotely, slogans call for “justice for Khadija” and invoke the Interior Minister. We also read “not one more”, in reference to the sad count of femicides, kept by feminist associations.

Because if nothing is done to protect him, Khadija could increase this figure, which has already risen to 16 since the beginning of the year. His case, publicized at the time by the regional press or even Publicationhas become a symbol of the judicial dysfunction faced by victims of domestic violence.

In 2017, while still living in Limoges, Khadija filed a complaint against her ex-partner for repeated violence and marital rape. This Monday evening, in front of her supporters and the Eiffel Tower, Khadija lists the tortures he has inflicted on her for years: broken ribs, broken teeth, torn ears … The violence reaches its climax when he hangs her from a bridge, head in the void.

But in 2020, when the trial of her executioner finally took place at the Haute Vienne assizes, Khadija was not even informed about it. Her summons was not sent to the correct address. It was from the press that she learned that he had been sentenced to eight years in prison “habitual violence resulting in total inability to work for more than eight days” but not for rape, as the court determined that this charge was insufficiently characterized.

Khadija was unable to look her torturer in the eyes, to talk about her fear, her suffering and the multiple consequences she will carry with her throughout her life. “I have been robbed of my opportunity to seek redress and justice for what I have endured. »

A profound denial of justice that the young woman, now 34 years old, hopes to one day see repaired. For the moment in vain, since the law does not authorize him, as a civil party, to appeal during a criminal trial – only the prosecution and the accused can do so.

Khadija has since been fighting with her lawyer to change the law and hopes her case can set a precedent. She took her case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and initiated action to hold the state accountable. “I hope to be able to provoke, despite myself, an overturning of the law. Because I will not have the right to a new trial”explains Khadija, who has difficulty containing her emotion.

A life suspended for seven years

Added to this institutional mistreatment is now an imminent risk to his life. On February 6, Khadija learned via a notification on her phone that her ex-spouse will be released on Saturday morning, February 17, after six years spent behind bars.

A repeat offender, in an irregular situation on French territory, Khadija’s executioner should be deported to Morocco, his country of origin, as soon as he leaves prison, as requested by the execution judge. But the Moroccan consulate currently refuses to issue the pass, which is necessary for Khadija’s peace of mind. Her ex-boyfriend has repeatedly threatened to hunt her down and not let her live in peace.

Unbearable for the young girl. “Morocco doesn’t want it, what do we do? Knowing that he said he wanted to kill me when he came out, what should I do? They put a target on my back again, I can’t take it anymore.”whispers Khadija, who only today aspires to resume her life, left on hold for seven years. “I’ve been on the streets, now I can be evicted from my apartment because I no longer have the means to pay the rent, I’m on medical vagrancy…”

“I am North African, I am Muslim, I am reporting a city boy, I am of Moroccan origin, he is Moroccan. Does my voice matter? Khadija wonders. I am obliged to arrest Darmanin to have a man deported, as required by law. All I wanted to start with was filing a complaint against a guy who hurt me, and here we are today. I just need while I’m alive, people know who I am, that I will be saved. »

Thursday 8 February, at a speech broadcast oninvited Minister Gérald Darmanin “prefects, police officers and gendarmes must immediately implement the measures of firmness and common sense of the immigration law”starting with those concerning foreign criminals sentenced to a sentence of at least five years in prison.

This is the case of Khadija’s violent ex-partner. The latter now hopes that the Interior Minister’s request will be followed up. “They can intercept him on Saturday and put him in the administrative detention center for three months, then deport him. It hurts my mouth to ask to be saved, but I no longer have a choice. Everything was taken away from me, even my dignity. »