France orders nationwide review of 70,000 minors' cases

French Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin has ordered a nationwide review of all pending complaints involving violence against minors, giving prosecutors until July 14 to examine approximately 70,000 cases. The directive follows public outrage over the murder of an 11-year-old girl, which exposed serious failures in the judicial system.

The body of Lyhanna was discovered in an abandoned grain silo in southwestern France last week, shortly after she disappeared from her hometown of Fleurance on May 29. Authorities have arrested a 41-year-old man, identified as Jérome B., the father of one of Lyhanna’s classmates, as the primary suspect. The case ignited national anger when it was revealed the suspect had been the subject of multiple prior allegations of sexual violence against minors, including a formal complaint of rape filed in August 2025. Despite medical evidence supporting that earlier accusation, he had not been questioned by police in the nine months before Lyhanna disappeared.

Justice Minister Darmanin convened France’s chief prosecutors in Paris on Monday, describing the handling of the suspect’s prior cases as a terrible failure by the state and the justice system. He had...