Two illegal migrants in France have been arrested and remain in police custody on suspicion of the rape of a 20-year-old disabled man, local media has reported.
The incident reportedly took place on Saturday evening in the southern French village of Enveitg, less than a mile from the French-Spanish border.
French newspaper L’Indépendant reported how the two men allegedly assaulted their victim, a 20-year-old disabled man, on a path near to the village’s ESAT, an establishment which helps people with mental or psychological disabilities to enter employment.
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The victim was reportedly approached by several individuals before being assaulted. His mobile phone and headphones were stolen, and he was forced to perform a sex act on one of his assailants.
The suspects, aged 20 and 28 and of Algerian and Moroccan origin, were swiftly arrested by the gendarmes of the Bourg-Madame brigade. Local media has reported that the two foreign nationals were not in possession of a valid residence permit, and had no fixed address.
The suspect’s detention was extended on Monday as authorities continued their investigation into the incident, with the two males facing charges of rape, theft with violence and failure to assist a person in danger. Their detention is due to expire on Tuesday.
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France has a long-standing national security problem, with the country’s mass migration policy cited as a major contributor to the rise in attacks by those not permitted to reside in the country.
Last month, a Sudanese migrant received a custodial sentence of just seven months for a sexual assault of two schoolgirls, aged 12 and 13, on a tram in the French city of Strasbourg.
Also in February, a Moroccan national received a sentence of just two years in prison after being found guilty of a violent stabbing attack on a man and his brother, despite already being ordered to leave France back in 2015.
Both incidents took place in the same month that French President Emmanuel Macron praised the “richness” of the French, which he said was due to those emigrating from southern Europe, the countries of North Africa, and the Middle East.
Latest statistics revealed approximately 25 percent of the country’s total prison population consists of foreign nationals, a figure which has soared from 17.2 percent in 2011. The cost to the French taxpayer to accommodate foreign national convicts is approximately €700 million each year.
Under plans announced this week by the conservative presidential election candidate Éric Zemmour, “undesirable foreigners,” including those who have entered the country illegally or committed crimes, would be immediately deported under his administration.
“When someone comes to your house and trashes everything and assaults you, you kick them out of your house, and you send them home,” Zemmour told viewers of an interview on French broadcaster M6 on Monday.
