The kidnapping and death of an 11-year-old girl named Liana in France has sparked a debate about the way the police and the judicial system work in the country, note Agence France-Presse, “France 24“, BFM TV and other French media, as well as foreign media, including the BBC or "Corriere della Sera", writes BTA.
Liana disappeared without a trace on May 29. She was last seen in front of her school in Florence, in southwestern France. Her parents filed a police report and a search was launched. During the investigation, it was found that the child was seen getting into the car of a man who is the father of one of Liana's friends. The man, identified in French media as 41-year-old Jerome Bardella, was charged with kidnapping last Monday.
On June 4, a child's body was found in the grounds of an abandoned agricultural enterprise, following a report from a passerby. The suspect in her kidnapping had previously worked at the enterprise.
The day after, pathologists performed an autopsy on the body found and officially confirmed that it was that of the wanted girl. However, the autopsy did not provide an answer to the question of how the child died at this stage, BFMTV notes. For this reason, additional tests will be carried out, announced the Montpellier pathologist Emmanuel Marguerite. During these additional tests, specialists will conduct microscopic studies of the organs removed from the child during the autopsy, after they were placed in a formaldehyde solution. For the purposes of such analyses, some organs must remain in solution for days, and others for at least a month, says Marguerite. This type of analysis can, for example, allow experts to find traces on the child's larynx and determine whether the child was strangled.
Toxicological examinations will also be carried out to show whether the child was drugged or poisoned. DNA tests will also be carried out to determine whether the child was the victim of sexual assault.
During the investigation, it became clear that the suspect in the kidnapping, Jerome Bardella, often went to Liana's school and waited for her there when she got off the school bus, giving her snacks, reports Télévisions 1. Liana's mother recalled that during a children's party at Bardella's house, he showed an unhealthy interest in her daughter. According to Liana, he ordered a pizza just for her and then flirted with her, without going too far. After this story, Liana's parents decided to stop contacting him, adds "France Info".
The investigation showed that several years ago Bardella was suspended from school for indecent behavior towards a 17-year-old student. There were also other reports of assault and rape of underage girls against Bardella, but none of them led to charges being filed. Complaints against him were filed with the prosecutor's office in Osh.
During initial interrogations, Jérôme Bardella said that he had taken Liana from school at her request to a swimming pool she went to, where he left her. But the girl's parents doubt this version.
Residents of Florence are shocked by the girl's death and are planning a march in the town for today, but they warn that politicians are not welcome there, BFM TV reports.
The case was also commented on by French President Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of his participation in the EU-Western Balkans summit in Tivat, Montenegro. "It is clear that something did not work properly and this is unacceptable," Macron said. He stressed that checks would be carried out very quickly to establish collective, systemic and possibly individual responsibility and to take all necessary measures." Macron, however, rejected claims that the lack of sufficient funds for the judicial system may have led to its failure in the case.
On Friday, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu also discussed the case with the interior and justice ministers, Agence France-Presse reported.
Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin later apologized to Liana's family and also admitted that there had been "shocking and unacceptable failures in the public services."
According to Eric Mouzin, the father of a girl who fell victim to serial killer Michel Fournier, "it is surreal" that the justice minister and interior minister are only now discovering that something is not working as well as the people in their departments.
In the lower house of the French parliament, the National Assembly, a group of deputies expressed their desire to make progress on a bill against sexual and sexist violence submitted in December last year by French Socialist MP Céline Thiebaud-Martinez. Tomorrow, National Assembly President Yael Bron-Pivet and deputies from the ranks of the Socialists, the Centrists and the Greens will also make a joint appeal for a response to Liana's death, BFMTV reports.
Local MP David Topiak said that he had warned the government last year that there was a shortage of magistrates and other staff at the Osh prosecutor's office, where the complaints against the man suspected of Liana's kidnapping were filed. At the same time, a circular from the Minister of Justice ordering that cases involving minors be given priority has not been implemented by this prosecutor's office.
A number of political figures have commented on the Liana case. Bruno Retayo, former Minister of the Interior, leader of the center-right party "Republicans" and a presidential candidate in next year's elections, has proposed the creation of a disciplinary court for magistrates, notes "Parisien". He also spoke of a "breach of justice" and called for a revolution in the system for applying penalties.
The chairman of the French far-right party "National Rally" Jordan Bardella (whose name coincides with that of the suspect) accused the state of having seriously failed and stressed that the French people demand explanations in the case.
Former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, who is the current mayor of Le Havre and a centrist presidential candidate, called for the creation of a safeguard mechanism to prevent violence against children.
The coordinator of the radical left “France Unrestrained” Manuel Bombard demanded answers from the highest level to provide the necessary resources to investigators in such cases, after the government made cuts.
The leader of the “Ecologists“ Marine Tondler, who is also a presidential candidate, said the child's case showed that the political and judicial systems were incapable of dealing with sexual and sexist violence.
The slow pace of the French judicial system is notorious, writes the BBC. But in the case of Liana, the French are outraged that none of the numerous warning signs about the male suspect were heeded by the authorities, who seemed more concerned with following procedures than depriving him of the opportunity to cause harm, the media outlet notes.
The suspect was, for example, the subject of a complaint filed in August last year by the mother of a 10-year-old child named Rosa, who said her daughter had been raped by him repeatedly. But the shocking thing is that although the medical examination confirmed Rosa's claims, in the nine months since the police report was filed, the man has not been questioned by the investigating authorities once, the BBC reports.