Darmanin's letter on child sexual violence probe failures sparks police union backlash in France

Darmanin's letter

On July 29, Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin sent a 12-page letter to Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez cataloguing structural failures in how police and gendarmerie handle complaints of sexual violence against minors. The document, revealed by Le Monde on August 8 and consulted by AFP, synthesizes information gathered by prosecutors general who visited police stations and gendarmeries after the public outcry over the Lyhanna case. Darmanin attributes the failures to resources, training, tools, and management, but not to "the will of field personnel."

The letter describes a "gigantic ghost stock" of files never transmitted to the judiciary. In Nîmes, prosecutors found 1,275 ghost procedures; in Caen, 905; in Amiens, more than 1,200. In Agen, a significant number of ongoing procedures were never reported to the prosecutor. In Melun, numerous procedures sat without investigation for months or years, even when the suspect was identified. Procedures were also lost: about 15 in Bourges, 17 in Angers, 6 in Annecy, and 23 unlocated in Paris.

The Lyhanna case

The letter's catalyst was the death of Lyhanna, an 11-year-old girl found dead in June in the Gers department. The main suspect, Jérôme Barella, charged with rape and murder of a minor, had been the subject of several complaints for sexual violence against minors without being pursued. The case triggered a wave of indignation that made addressing these failures a priority for the Justice Ministry.

Staffing shortages

The document also highlights severe understaffing. In Amiens, three investigators handle 900 files; in Le Mans, six investigators manage 4,000. Bruno Bartoccetti, a union representative, said that resolving the backlog within one year would require four to five times more investigators for the minors brigade alone. A mother interviewed by France Télévisions described fighting since 2021 to protect her daughter, allegedly sexually assaulted by her ex-partner, with no response from the justice system despite multiple complaints. Her lawyer, Yoleine Bonfante Curti, reported that no investigation procedure had taken place and that the file was lost before being classified.

Police and magistrates' backlash

The National Judicial Police Association (ANPJ) issued a communiqué on Sunday, August 9, denouncing "hypocrisy" and "betrayal" by Darmanin, who served as Interior Minister for over four years, longer than any predecessor in 50 years. The association called him "Docteur Darmanin and Mister Gérald," arguing that the current Justice Minister was torpedoing his own record as Interior Minister.

It is indeed his own record as Interior Minister that the current Justice Minister is torpedoing today.

Frédéric Lauze, general commissioner of the National Police and secretary general of the Syndicat des commissaires de la Police nationale (SCPN), told franceinfo he felt "a sense of betrayal vis-à-vis Gérald Darmanin." He criticized the document as a synthesis note that interrogated prosecutors general and tended to exonerate the justice system, saying he would have preferred a report from the judicial services inspection. Justine Probst, national secretary of the Syndicat de la magistrature, said it seemed as though Darmanin was discovering the state of police and gendarmerie services.

Darmanin's response

On Sunday, August 9, Darmanin posted on X to defuse the controversy, praising investigators and acknowledging the crisis in the investigation division.

I know the extremely difficult and courageous work of investigators and the crisis in the investigation division. I also know the difficulty for magistrates and investigative services to work together in a context of great tensions where the digitization of justice is lagging behind.

He proposed a meeting with the Interior Minister on September 3 to begin a constructive dialogue with all services. The ANPJ also criticized the 2024 police reform, which was supposed to provide lasting solutions with a "PJ of 22,000 personnel." The association said the reform did not relieve investigative services handling petty and medium crime and considerably weakened the former judicial police.