(Adnkronos) – The French government is called today to decide on new measures for child protection and against sexual violence, in an attempt to respond to the indignation and immense emotion aroused by the murder of Lyhanna, 11 years old. Adding to the pressure on the government are controversies over the effectiveness of the fight against pedocriminality in the country and the resources made available to justice. In several French cities, more than 60,000 people took to the streets last night.
The main suspect in the kidnapping and death of Lyhanna in the southwestern French department of Gers, Jerome B., 41, had been the subject of several complaints and reports. Some had been dismissed without follow-up, but one of them, filed in August 2025, had not been followed by sufficiently rapid investigations. The man had neither been questioned nor taken into custody. The suspect was indicted and imprisoned last week for the Lyhanna case. While acknowledging “very serious dysfunctions,” Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin ruled out resignation. He also ordered that the 70,000 complaints related to minors currently pending in court be examined by July 14.
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu convened a meeting today with the relevant members of his government, including the Ministers of Interior, Justice, Health, and National Education. In a letter to his ministers, made public last night, he emphasized his “horror,” but also a “misunderstanding regarding the circumstances” of Lyhanna’s death and dysfunctions within the judicial system. Among the measures under government review listed by Lecornu are “the toughening of penalties for serial rapes, the modification of limitation periods, the provision of information to victims throughout the legal process, and the obligation to justify the dismissal of sexual offenses.” The judicial system “is not sufficiently on the side of victims,” declared Aurore Bergé, Minister Delegate for Gender Equality, on Tuesday, who will advocate for “the imprescriptibility of sexual offenses committed against minors.”
The government, and Gerald Darmanin in particular, is now in a delicate situation. It must take public opinion into account without alienating the entire judicial system. The High Council of the Judiciary (CSM) deplored the “denigration of thousands of magistrates” and denounced the “exploitation” of the case. “We have lacked neither resources nor laws; we have failed to prioritize child rape cases,” the Minister of Justice insisted yesterday after a meeting with public prosecutors.
Several of them, however, described to AFP a judicial system under extreme pressure, crushed by the weight of case backlogs, where it is becoming difficult to distinguish “a super-priority among priorities.” In 2025 and 2026, public prosecutors received dozens of circulars, assigning various objectives – drug trafficking, domestic violence, attacks on elected officials or the environment – which accumulated without always being accompanied by the necessary resources.
Franck Rastoul, prosecutor of Aix-en-Provence, speaks of a “considerable” volume of cases nationwide: “We have 3.6 million cases.” “We will have to examine the details to determine which ones to consider even more prioritized than others,” explains the magistrate. “We will have to give even greater priority to these cases, even if that obviously means dealing with others at a slower pace.”
