Did French authorities decline to prosecute Dahbia Benkired, an undocumented migrant suspected of murdering 12-year-old Lola Daviet in October 2022, and simply send her back to her native Algeria instead? No, that's not true: Police arrested Benkired and sent her to pre-trial custody, where she remained at the time of writing. In December 2022, French authorities expelled Benkired's sister, Friha, who was not implicated in the murder.
The claim appeared in a Hungarian-language video (archived here) on TikTok on May 9, 2023, under the title "Are some people worth more?" It showed a still photo of Daviet with the following text, translated by Lead Stories:
This is Lola. Lola was 12 when she died after 4 illegal immigrants dismembered her, put her in a suitcase, and threw her away. They didn't punish the immigrants, they just expelled them. This is a case of "it happens," and we aren't allowed to talk about it, because it's a provocation.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Wed May 31 12:20:36 2023 UTC)
Daviet's mutilated body was found curled up in a trunk in the courtyard of the apartment building where she lived on October 14, 2022, according to a statement by French prosecutor Laure Beccuau. Police arrested six suspects at the outset of the investigation and released four without charge, Beccuau said.
Contrary to TikTok's claim, the only suspect indicted in relation to Daviet's murder was a woman later identified by several media outlets as Dahbia Benkired. (French prosecutors customarily do not release the full names of criminal suspects.)
On October 19, 2022, police took Benkired's sister, Friha, into administrative custody on charges of staying in France illegally. She was deported back to Algeria on December 16, 2023, French news outlet BFMTV reported. Another person of interest, whom authorities publicly identified as Amine K., was also detained and ordered to leave the country, news site Le Parisien said. There is no record of authorities charging either of them with murder.
Dahbia Benkired was sitting in prison near Paris as of April 14, 2023, according to Le Parisien. An online search shows no subsequent reports of her release or deportation, which would have generated headlines given the gravity of the charges against her.
The TikTok video also inaccurately claims that "we are not allowed to talk about" Benkired's case because she is an immigrant. Commentators worldwide have expressed outrage over Daviet's murder, especially those sympathetic to France's anti-immigrant right wing.
