handout / AFP
Lyhanna, 11, in an undated image released by her family in May
The “serious failures” in the management of the suspect in Lyhanna’s death will be investigated. The report should indicate those responsible and possible sanctions, which include the dismissal of magistrates, if considered necessary, says the French Minister of Justice, Gérald Darmanin.
The French Government will request an exhaustive analysis of approximately 70 thousand complaints for crimes against children, following the murder of a girl 11 years old for a suspect with several charges for rape or abuse.
The announcement was made today by the French Minister of Justice, Gerald Darmaninwhich has assured that it will order an exhaustive review of all complaints related to crimes against minors before July 14th.
“I’m not going on vacation and no high-level magistrate will do so until I receive, one by one, the attorneys general to assess the situation”, declared Darmanin, on the eve of the meeting with the magistrates, at the Ministry of Justice, in Paris.
The minister pointed out that there were “serious flaws” in managing the suspect’s case, Jerome Barellawhich accumulated several reports of rape or abuse of minors without consequences
Darmanin said that the inspection report he ordered will be released within fifteen days, indicating those responsible and possible sanctionswhich include the dismissal of magistratesif considered necessary.
The case of the suspect in Lyhanna’s death, according to Gérald Darmanin, highlights the need to review all reports of violence against children to ensure an immediate and effective response from the courts.
It caused a profound commotion in France and reopened the debate about possible dysfunctions in the judicial chain in the management of reports of sexual violence against minors.
“Lyhanna is the last chapter of a tragedy that has been going on for too long: that of silencing children, when they deserve all our attention, just as other European countries have known how to do for years”, denounced the mayor of the town of Fleurance, Grégory Bobbato
In a speech that ended, after a minute of silence and a moving ovationa march in memory of the girl, which was attended by 6,000 people, the mayor said that Lyhanna’s death “is a social failure, nothing less”.
In short disappeared on May 29thafter getting into the suspect’s car as he left school, and the child’s body was found six days later, in an abandoned grain silo on a farm located about 15 kilometers from his school, and where Barella worked in the past.
Formal identification took place a day later, on Friday, thanks to DNA tests, although the causes of death have not yet been made official.
Stretcher, 41 years old, is the father of a friend of the victim and accumulates complaints for sexual assaults against minors, some archived and others still ongoing. He was arrested a few hours after the girl’s disappearance and is under investigation for kidnapping and deprivation of liberty, having been placed in preventive detention.
