16 months without answers: Morocco fails family seeking lost son

For 16 months, the Besnevilles have relied on Morocco’s immobile justice system to find their son, who mysteriously disappeared from the streets of Rabat last April. Faced with little progress and even less transparency, they are now amplifying their pleas, revealing new insight into the case in an interview with Maghrebi

29-year-old Clément Besneville moved to Morocco on March 17^th, 2024, with dreams of social reform. “One of his passions is education,” explains his father, Didier.

“He tried in France to explain, mainly in the Ministry of Education, on how to educate young people,” advocating to introduce foreign languages and mathematics to pupils at a very young age.

When his ideas failed to gain traction at home, the young idealist moved to campaign abroad. He settled in a seaside town in Morocco’s capital, planning to open a pizzeria to support himself. The venture would draw him to a partnership with a local man, and the two were set to sign the lease on April 11^th.

However, just the night before, on the eve of Eid al-Fitr, Clément’s neighbors reported a door slam at 10:30 pm, and the young Frenchman was never heard from again.

After weeks with no word, his family reported him missing on April 25th at a gendarmerie in Seine-et-Marne in France. Only then were they informed that the authorities in Morocco had already been notified of their son’s disappearance almost two weeks prior, on April 13th.

“The police didn’t tell us anything,” says Didier, “the few things we know are either from witnesses or neighbors.”

According to these witnesses, all of Clément’s personal belongings were found inside his apartment. Didier lists his phone, PC, tablet, passport, glasses, cheque pay slip, his visa card, and even several thousand euros in cash. All of it remains locked away in police custody, with the family denied access.

In Clément’s bathroom, the police also allegedly found traces of his blood and a broken mirror.

In July 2024, the case was transferred to the National Brigade of the Judicial Police (BNPJ) in Casablanca. Since then, the so-called preliminary investigation has languished, with no official updates.

“They are very nice people,” says Didier, who has been to Morocco six times since the disappearance. “They give you a cup of tea. They give you some pastries…but they don’t tell anything,” instead issuing empty promises that “We will find your son, inshallah.”

Left in the dark, the family considers all the possibilities, even the darkest. “Each day, your question is he still alive? Does he sleep? Does he find something to eat? Is he cold? Is he hot?”

Suspicions have inevitably mounted, especially since Clément disappeared only one day before his lease payment. His business partner, whom Didier says has a criminal record, was questioned three separate times by the BNPJ due to inconsistencies in his alibis, but seemingly no progress was made.

In an interview with Franceinfo, the family explains that they were advised not to publicize the case “so as not to offend the Moroccan authorities.” But, after a prolonged and frustrating wait, they now “want to go up a notch.”

In March 2025, the family filed a formal complaint for kidnapping and unlawful detention with French prosecutors. However, authorities in Rabat refused the request, citing that a preliminary investigation, one that has moved at a glacial pace for the past year and a half, was still ongoing.

The family has also recently joined the French civil party, which grants them official victim status and the right to take an active role in the investigation. They hope the move will finally pry open the case files that have been kept from them until now.

They plan to return to Morocco in September to galvanize the investigation.

“I have no support at all,” says Didier, who has written to France’s Macron and Morocco’s King Mohammad VI only to be met with silence. “It’s been 16 months. My wife doesn’t sleep…she cries…and cries…and cries.”

Against all odds, the family retains hope. To Franceinfo, Didier explains when he travels to Rabat, “I stare at everyone, in the shops, on the street, as if I could come across him. But when the takeoff comes, it’s torture, I feel like I’m abandoning him, I can’t help but look in the window and tell myself that he might be there, somewhere.”

A website has been set up with further information about Clément, and the family urges anyone with new leads to contact them by email.

Maghrebi/ Franceinfo/ Hespress