France mistakenly releases violent offender, manhunt underway

French authorities have launched a manhunt for a convicted criminal mistakenly released from prison nearly a week ago, prosecutors in Bordeaux said.

According to Le Figaro, the 25-year-old man was serving an 11-year sentence for a violent crime when he was wrongly freed from a prison in the commune of Gradignan. Officials had confused him with another inmate due for deportation to Morocco due to similar names.

An investigation into the incident is underway. A European arrest warrant has been issued for the fugitive, valid across all EU member states.