The “364 children” of jihadists repatriated from Syria “are being monitored by judges” and “do not pose any particular difficulty”, says the anti-terrorist prosecutor

French children who grew up with parents who left to join Daesh in Syria and were repatriated to French territory “do not pose any particular difficulty”assures Olivier Christen, national anti-terrorism prosecutor, guest of franceinfo Wednesday September 11. “Today, there are 364 of them in the territory, in 59 departments”the prosecutor said. These children “are followed by judges. And today, these children do not pose any particular difficulty.”

The national anti-terrorism prosecutor refuses to talk about a time bomb, as François Molins, former Paris prosecutor in charge of terrorism, suggested in 2018. “These 364 children do not appear to correspond to this expression at all today and are the subject of intensive monitoring”replies Olivier Christen.

He also specifies that:“None of the repatriated children correspond to the minors implicated in the terrorism cases” followed by the anti-terrorism prosecution.

Of the 364 minors who returned, “169 have been repatriated in the last two years” in some “heavy operations in connection with the Kurdish authorities”says the prosecutor. Not all French children of jihadists have been repatriated. “It was not possible to forcibly bring back children whose mothers did not want them to be repatriated”explains the magistrate.

“All the women who agreed to be repatriated with their children were repatriated. There were a number of women who did not want to be repatriated.”adds Olivier Christen. In total, “170 women came to the territory, including 57 repatriated in these operations.”