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state failure as nation rages at failure to prevent schoolgirl’s murder....

The death of an 11-year-old schoolgirl in southwest France has triggered soul-searching and recrimination in a country already roiled by a string of child abuse scandals.

Lyhanna went missing after school on May 29 in her hometown of Fleurance, northwest of Toulouse. Her body was discovered a week later in a disused grain silo 15 kilometres from home.

 

French justice system on trial as nation rages at failure to prevent schoolgirl’s murder

French Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin has ordered public prosecutors to review 70,000 allegations of violence against minors, by July 14, amid fury at the death of an 11-year-old schoolgirl that has exposed cracks in the country’s judicial system.

 

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The 41-year-old father of a classmate was arrested on evidence that he was seen with her on the afternoon she disappeared. The case sparked outrage after officials revealed he had been accused in several cases involving young girls.

The most serious was a mother's complaint in August that he raped her 10-year-old daughter several times. Despite medical evidence supporting the accusation, the suspect had still not been questioned by police by the time Lyhanna went missing nine months later.

Grief mixed with anger on Sunday as thousands of mourners took part in a silent march in Fleurance, many holding portraits of the young victim. Several women told reporters they had also been victims of sexual abuse, lamenting a society and a justice system that failed to protect them, their daughters and granddaughters.

“Today, we are an angry town, an angry region, an angry country,” said the town’s mayor, Grégory Bobbato, describing Lyhanna’s death as “the latest act in a tragedy that has been unfolding for far too long”.

The mayor said there was something deeply wrong with the way investigations were conducted, echoing complaints voiced across the country. He added: “Must we always wait for fully established evidence to be produced before finally doing something to protect our children?”

‘State failure’

President Emmanuel Macron has condemned as “unacceptable” lapses in the authorities’ handling of the case. His justice minister, Gérald Darmanin, has acknowledged a “terrible failure from the state, and of the justice system”.

Summoning all state prosecutors to Paris on Monday, Darmanin instructed them to review 70,000 ongoing allegations of violence against minors by July 14 “as an absolute priority”. He said findings from an investigation into the handling of the case would be released within two weeks.

Asked if he would resign, Darmanin said: “If any shortcomings are identified, I will take responsibility and propose disciplinary actions ranging from a reprimand to dismissal.”

The government has accused the judiciary of ignoring instructions to prioritise cases of suspected child abuse. Magistrates’ unions have countered that the government’s priorities vary according to each passing event, resulting in a flood of directives that are impossible to implement.

Opposition parties, meanwhile, have rounded on both, some on the left calling for Darmanin’s resignation while others on the right demand sanctions for magistrates. With the next presidential election just a year away, would-be candidates have rushed to take part in the blame game.

In a letter to Darmanin, himself a potential Elysée Palace candidate, a union representing French magistrates said it was “unacceptable” that they should “be held responsible and subjected to public condemnation and threats” even before the results of the administrative inquiry are known.

One prosecutor has already been subjected to death threats, accused of failing to act on serious allegations levelled at the suspect as his file bounced from one jurisdiction to another.

A lack of resources

In its letter to Darmanin, the magistrates’ union noted that France has “four times fewer prosecutors than the European average” and has seen an “exponential” rise in recent years in the number of cases involving gender-based and sexual violence, whether against minors or not.

This, the union added, has created “among plaintiffs and victims a hope for justice that the judicial system is materially incapable of fulfilling”.

While both Macron and Darmanin have pre-emptively dismissed talk of budgetary or staffing constraints as a factor in the authorities’ failure to protect Lyhanna, experts say decades of under-investment in the judiciary have left it ill-equipped to tackle cases in which speed is of the essence.

“Per capita spending on the justice system in France is among the lowest in Europe,” said Carine Durrieu Diebolt, a lawyer representing victims of sexual violence, including children.

Durrieu Diebolt is a member of the CIIVISE, an independent commission set up in 2021 to come up with proposals to fight sexual abuse of children. She points to the government’s shifting priorities as one reason the commission’s 82 recommendations are yet to be implemented.

“Drug trafficking is a national priority; terrorism is a national priority; everything is a national priority,” she said. “Sexual violence against children is ultimately just one national priority among many others, and as a result, it is no longer treated as a priority.”

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has repeatedly faulted France over delays in examining cases of sexual abuse and a lack of specialised training to give child victims a fair hearing.

In April last year, the Strasbourg-based court found the French judiciary guilty of “failing to protect” three girls aged under 18 who had filed complaints for rape, noting that the question of consent had been largely ignored. Ruling on a separate French case months later, the ECHR found that “failings” both in the investigative process and during trial were “likely to deter victims of sexual violence from asserting their rights in court”.

Children’s voices unheard

In remarks to the press last week, Darmanin acknowledged a widespread failure to “take the words of children seriously”.

This failure can be traced in part to a notorious paedophilia case at the start of the century, known as the Affaire Outreau, which resulted in then-president Jacques Chirac ultimately apologising to defendants who had been jailed for up to four years based on apparently unreliable testimony, including from children.

“The justice system was traumatised by the Affaire Outreau, which left many with the conviction that we needed to be more cautious about what children say,” said Choralyne Dumesnil, a lawyer at the Paris bar specialised in the protection of victims of domestic and sexual violence.

“Now we must go back to listening to the children, but doing so properly,” Dumesnil added. “There are appropriate methods to interview them, by following guidelines and training police officers and psychologists. Even a 3-year-old can be interviewed if done the right way.”

The tragic case of 11-year-old Lyhanna comes on the heels of a scandal rocking the after-school care system known as périscolaire in Paris and elsewhere in France, with investigators probing allegations of widespread child abuse by non-teaching staff. The scandal has prompted calls for more and better trained investigators to keep up with the deluge of complaints and act swiftly, with specialised child protection units already overstretched.

The CIIVISE says an estimated 160,000 minors are victims of sexual abuse each year – most often by a relative, almost always by a man.

“It’s the equivalent of two to three children for each classroom – it's massive,” said Durrieu Diebolt. “We’re talking about systemic violence and systemic failings. So, it’s imperative that the accounts of victims of abuse are taken seriously.”

The context of a looming presidential campaign is both a curse and a blessing, according to Dumesnil, for whom now is the time to turn national outrage into action.

“Yes, this tragedy is being politicised, but we should seize the opportunity,” she said. “We have plenty of ideas about how things need to be done – now they need to be implemented.”

In a sign that things may be moving, Yaël Braun-Pivet, the head of the National Assembly, called on Monday for a “comprehensive”, cross-party bill on gender-based and sexual violence that had been stalled for months to be placed on parliament’s agenda.

The bill “provides solutions that cover all areas: justice, security, the home (...) sports and education”, Braun-Pivet said of the text signed by roughly 100 lawmakers, adding that the fight must be waged “on all fronts”.

https://www.france24.com/en/france/20260608-french-justice-system-on-trial-as-nation-rages-at-failure-to-prevent-schoolgirl-lyhanna-murder

 

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT — SINCE 2005.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

         RABID ATHEIST.

         WELCOME TO THIS INSANE WORLD….

 

epstein country....

Violent Crimes Against Children 

It’s unthinkable, but every year, thousands of children become victims of crimes—whether it’s through kidnappings, violent attacks, sexual abuse, or online predators.

Overview 

The mission of the FBI's Violent Crimes Against Children program is to:

  • Provide a rapid, proactive, and comprehensive ability to counter all threats of abuse and exploitation to children when those crimes fall under the authority of the FBI
  • Identify, locate, and recover child victims
  • Strengthen relationships between the FBI and federal, state, local, tribal, and international law enforcement partners to identify, prioritize, investigate, and deter individuals and criminal networks exploiting children
Investigative Priorities
  • Child abductions: the mysterious disappearance of a minor, especially a minor of tender years (12 or younger)
  • Contact offenses against children: production of child sexual abuse material (CSAM), sextortion, domestic travel to engage in sexual activity with children, and international travel to engage in sexual activity with children
  • Sexual exploitation of children: online networks and enterprises manufacturing, trading, distributing, and/or selling CSAM
  • Trafficking of CSAM: distribution or possession
  • International parental kidnapping: wrongfully retaining a child outside the United States with the intent to obstruct the lawful exercise of parental rights

Other crimes against children violations within the FBI’s jurisdiction are investigated in accordance with available resources.

Investigations Child Abductions

In 1932, Congress gave the FBI jurisdiction under the “Lindbergh Law” to immediately investigate any reported mysterious disappearance or kidnapping involving a child of “tender age”—usually 12 or younger. There does not have to be a ransom demand nor does the child have to cross state lines or be missing for 24 hours before the FBI will become involved.

Our field offices respond to cases involving the mysterious disappearance of a child. All reports of circumstances indicating that a minor may have been abducted are given an immediate preliminary inquiry to evaluate evidence, circumstances, and information. If a case is found to be warranted under federal law, we will immediately open an investigation in partnership with state and local authorities.

Child abductions by strangers are often complex, and time is of the essence. FBI Child Abduction Rapid Deployment (CARD) teams are deployed soon after an abduction has been reported to a local FBI field offices, FBI Headquarters, or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children or in other cases when the FBI determines an investigation is warranted.

Child Sexual Exploitation Investigations 

Child sexual exploitation investigations—many of them undercover—are conducted in FBI field offices by Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Forces (CEHTTFs), which combine the resources of the FBI with those of other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies.

Each of the FBI’s 56 field offices has worked investigations developed by the Crimes Against Children program, and many of our Legal Attaché offices have coordinated with appropriate foreign law enforcement partners on international investigations. Several of these investigations are also worked in coordination with Internet Crimes Against Children Task Forces, which are funded by the Department of Justice. Furthermore, the FBI supports training for federal, state, local, and foreign law enforcement agencies involved in these investigations.

Child Sex Tourism

The FBI, in conjunction with domestic and international law enforcement partners, investigates U.S. citizens and permanent residents who travel overseas to engage in illegal sexual conduct with children under the age of 18. These crimes are exacerbated by the relative ease of international travel and the use of the Internet as a platform for individuals exchanging information about how and where to find child victims in foreign locations.

International Parental Kidnapping

The FBI investigates when a parent or guardian removes a child from the United States, attempts to do so, or retains a child (who has been in the United States) outside the United States with the intent to obstruct the lawful exercise of parental rights. Our field offices across the country serve as the primary points of contact for those seeking help. To request assistance or learn more about our services, please contact a member of the Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force in your local FBI office.

When a child is abducted by a parent or guardian and taken outside the United States, one criminal and one civil option may be pursued:

  • A criminal arrest warrant can be issued for a parent or guardian who takes a juvenile under 16 outside of the United States without the other custodial parent’s permission (International Parental Kidnapping Crime Act of 1993).
  • In nations that have signed the Hague Convention, there is a civil process that facilitates the return of abducted children under 16 to their home countries (The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction).

The criminal process enables the arrest of the abducting parent or guardian but does not specifically order the return of the child, although the child is usually returned when the parent is apprehended. The civil process, on the other hand, facilitates the return of the child but does not pursue the arrest or return of the abductor. As a result, a criminal process would not be pursued if circumstances indicate it will jeopardize an active Hague Convention civil process.

Based on these considerations, we pursue criminal action in international parental kidnappings on a case-by-case basis. We take into account all the factors and guidance among the impacted state and federal law enforcement agencies, state and/or federal prosecutors, the Department of State, the Department of Justice, and the searching parent.

It’s important to understand that the FBI has no investigative jurisdiction outside the United States, except on the high seas and other locations specifically granted by Congress. We work through our existing partnerships with international authorities through the U.S. Department of State, our Legal Attachéprogram, and Interpol.

If you are the searching parent, visit the Department of Justice’s International Parental Kidnapping web page for more information.

  • More on the Hague convention (click to expand)

For more information about our current parental abduction cases and to help us find these children, see Wanted by the FBI Parental Kidnapping.

Our authority in parental kidnapping cases stems from the Fugitive Felon Act. Although this statute most commonly applies to fugitives who flee interstate and/or internationally, Congress has specifically declared that the statute is also applicable in cases involving interstate or international parental kidnapping. Because many fugitives flee with their own children, the statute serves as an effective means for the FBI to help local and state law enforcement arrest these fugitives. 

For the FBI to assist with an Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution arrest warrant, the following criteria must be met:

  • There must be probable cause to believe the abducting parent has fled interstate or internationally to avoid prosecution or confinement.
  • State authorities must have an outstanding warrant for the abductor’s arrest charging him/her with a felony under the laws of the state from which the fugitive flees.
  • State authorities must agree to extradite and prosecute that fugitive from anywhere in the United States if the subject is apprehended by the FBI.
  • The local prosecuting attorney or police agency should make a written request for FBI assistance.
  • The U.S. attorney must authorize the filing of a complaint, and the federal arrest process must be outstanding before the investigation is instituted.
Initiatives Child Abduction Rapid Deployment (CARD) Team

The first few hours after a child is abducted are critical. That's why we established CARD teams in October 2005. CARD teams are composed of experienced personnel with a proven track record in crimes against children investigations, especially cases where a child has been abducted by someone other than a family member. Team members provide on-the-ground investigative, technical, and resource assistance to state and local law enforcement. The teams work closely with FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit representatives, National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime coordinators, and child exploitation task force members.

CARD teams are capable of quickly establishing an on-site command post to centralize investigative efforts and operations. Other assets they bring to the table include a mapping tool to identify and locate registered sex offenders in the area, national and international lead coverage, and the Child Abduction Response Plan to guide investigative efforts.

Endangered Child Alert Program

In 2004, the FBI began its Endangered Child Alert Program (ECAP) as a proactive approach to identifying unknown individuals involved in the sexual abuse of children and the production of child sexual abuse material. ECAP—a collaborative effort between the FBI and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children—seeks national and international exposure of unknown adults (referred to as John/Jane Does).

Partnership with National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC)


FBI personnel assigned to the NCMEC review information that is provided to NCMEC’s CyberTipline. The tip line receives reports of child sexual exploitation incidents via an online form. The NCMEC also maintains a 24-hour hotline at 1-800-THE-LOST and on missingkids.org.

FBI employees assigned to the NCMEC work to identify individuals suspected of any of the following: possession, manufacture and/or distribution of child sexual abuse material; online enticement of children for sexual acts; child sexual tourism; and/or other sexual exploitation of children. Once a potential suspect has been identified, investigators compile information and forward it to the appropriate FBI field office for investigation.

Violent Crimes Against Children International Task Force

The Violent Crimes Against Children International Task Force (VCACITF) is a select cadre of international law enforcement experts working together to formulate and deliver a dynamic global response to online child exploitation through strategic partnerships, the aggressive engagement of relevant law enforcement, and the extensive use of liaison, operational support, and coordination. 

The VCACITF (formerly known as the Innocent Images International Task Force) became operational in 2004 and serves as the largest task force of its kind in the world, composed of 68 online child sexual exploitation investigators from almost 46 countries. A five-week training session for newly invited task force officers brings them to the United States to work side-by-side with FBI agents in the Violent Crimes Against Children program. The VCACITF also conducts an annual case coordination meeting where task force members come together in a central location to share best practices and coordinate transnational investigations between members.

https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/violent-crime/vcac

 

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PLEASE VISIT:

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT — SINCE 2005.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

         RABID ATHEIST.

         WELCOME TO THIS INSANE WORLD….