the Council of State validates the forfeiture of French nationality of a woman sentenced in 2017

Unzîle Nûr Sert, 25, no longer has French nationality. The Council of State confirmed Friday, May 5 the forfeiture of French nationality decided by the government with regard to this Franco-Turkish of 25 years, definitively condemned in 2017 for having planned an attack in France. The young woman asked the highest administrative court to suspend the execution of the decree of February 17, 2023 forfeiting her French nationality, a sanction which she considered “manifestly excessive and disproportionate”.

Born in Lyon, Unzîle Nûr Sert had acquired French nationality in 2010. She was definitively sentenced in November 2017 to five years in prison, including six months suspended, for her participation in a planned attack in Paris foiled in March 2016 targeting a concert hall, cafes and a shopping mall. Unzîle Nûr Sert justified his reintegration efforts, with several periods of employment since his release from prison and the signing of a permanent contract from February 1, 2023.

Twenty similar cases since 2019

In its order, consulted by AFP, the Council of State considered that her forfeiture of nationality, which has the effect of depriving her of her civil and political rights in France, was not “disproportionate” in view “the nature and seriousness of the acts committed”. His lawyers pointed out that these facts were “Intervened in a context of impaired discernment recognized by a psychiatrist”. “While our client has served her sentence, she is now professionally and personally integrated, this decision to confirm a real banishment deprives her of any right to reintegration”they reacted.

Since 2019, around twenty deprivations of nationality have been pronounced for terrorism in France, according to official figures. In France, only dual nationals can be deprived of their nationality (so as not to render a person stateless) but not those, among them, who were born French. The forfeiture of nationality may be decided in the event of an attack on the fundamental interests of the Nation or in the event of conviction for a crime or terrorist offence. It is pronounced by decree of the Prime Minister.