Lyhanna affair: “There is a judicial chain that did not work, it’s quite overwhelming,” says Isabelle Florennes

Exactly one week has passed since the disappearance of 11-year-old Lyhanna in Fleurance (Gers) on May 29. Seven days at the end of which a body identified as probably being that of the teenager was found by the gendarmes and where the suspect Jérôme Barella, 41, was indicted for kidnapping and sequestration. The profile of this father of two little girls who were friends with the victim, revealed over the days, ended up igniting the political debate. The man has been targeted since 2017 by several reports and by three complaints for rape of minors filed in 2022, in August 2025 and more recently this Wednesday, without having been concerned by the justice system until Lyhanna’s disappearance.

Emmanuel Macron denounces “unacceptable” dysfunctions

As part of the procedure opened in August 2025, Jérôme Barella was never heard even though his placement in police custody had ended up being requested for a hearing. The file filed in Haute-Garonne took five months to arrive at the Fleurance gendarmerie in Gers where the suspect resides. These lengthy procedures were firmly denounced by the entire political class up to the President of the Republic.

While traveling in Montenegro, Emmanuel Macron assured that it is “clear that there is a dysfunction, adding that “it is unacceptable”. The tone is the same on the government side. After a meeting in Matignon this morning with the Ministers of the Interior, Justice and Action and Public Accounts, Sébastien Lecornu reacted to the disappearance of Lyhanna, saying he was “particularly shocked”. The Minister of Justice, Gérald Darmanin, also pointed out “overwhelming and unacceptable dysfunctions in state services”. Unanimous reactions from the executive which must be supported by the administrative investigation entrusted to the General Inspectorate of Justice and the General Inspectorate of the National Gendarmerie. The Prime Minister asked that the conclusions “be given to him within 15 days”.

Archaism of certain procedures

The services of the Ministry of the Interior and Justice will have to understand how a man targeted by two complaints and several reports before Lyhanna’s disappearance was never heard by the gendarmes. “There is a judicial chain that did not work, complaints and reports were not taken into account. It’s quite overwhelming,” underlines Isabelle Florennes, vice-president of the Senate Laws Committee. The centrist senator notes “collective responsibility”, pointing to justice, the gendarmerie and National Education at the same time, because Jérôme Barella had been fired from the high school where he worked in 2020 after “inappropriate behavior” with a high school student. “He was known to the services without anything happening, this proves that there is a failure of the judicial and investigative services,” says Agnès Canayer, senator attached to the Les Républicains group.

One of the reasons put forward to explain the length of processing of the complaint for rape of a 10-year-old minor filed in August 2025 is due to the archaism of certain procedures. To be transferred from the public prosecutor’s office in Toulouse (Haute-Garonne) to that of Auch (Gers), the complaint had to be sent by mail because the files are not digitized. Agnès Canayer, who sits on the Law Commission, deplores this: “We can clearly see that the digital criminal procedure which would make it possible to cross-reference the different procedures is not put in place everywhere. We are in the digital age, of artificial intelligence, but when will the justice and police services take advantage of these means?

Priority to violence against minors

The anger is all the stronger since the Minister of Justice had sent a circular to the prosecutor in January 2025 to request that “acts committed to the detriment of children”: physical or sexual violence [fassent] subject to particular vigilance and priority treatment.” With our colleagues from Agence France Presse, a government source directly implicates the Auch prosecutor, Clémence Meyer, accused of not having applied the circular in question. Response from the Conference of General Prosecutors and that of Republic Prosecutors: no responsibility can be “mentioned” nor any sanction “pronounced” pending the results of the the administrative investigation.

The prosecutors general will still have to hear the remonstrances of the Minister of Justice who summons them Monday morning to the Chancellery to discuss the judicial failings in Lyhanna’s disappearance. “Symbolically, he is obliged to have a strong word and it is necessary to have one to re-mobilize the collective chain,” says Isabelle Florennes. I think we have sufficient political and legal arsenal, we need to activate it before tragedies occur.”

Other senators on the Laws Committee make a similar observation and do not consider it necessary to table a new law. Conversely, their socialist colleague Audrey Linkenheld would like the government to go further by committing to a comprehensive law which integrates the protection of children and women as a priority in our public policies. “This must be accompanied by means because it is because we are underwater that we make mistakes,” adds the elected official from the North who recognizes the efforts made in recent years in terms of recruiting staff in the justice system, the gendarmerie and the police but which she judges “ insufficient.”

Senators want to hear from the government after the investigation

Pending the conclusions of the administrative investigation, the senators of the Laws Committee should not decide to constitute a commission of inquiry or an information mission on the subject. “A commission of inquiry means six months more to wait,” explains Audrey Linkenheld. “The administrative investigation will allow on the one hand to sanction but also to learn lessons. I am not sure that one more commission of inquiry will allow us to know more,” adds Isabelle Florennes.

The senators, on the other hand, have in mind the 15-day deadline set by the Prime Minister to receive the conclusions of this investigation. “Once we have this feedback, there will be a need for the Prime Minister, the Minister of the Interior and the Minister of Justice to explain themselves to the Senate,” says Agnès Canayer. Her colleague from the Les Républicains group, Lauriane Josende, insists: “It is essential that accounts are given to the national representation, we must be able to qualify the fault and the investigation will make it possible to determine it.” And the senators questioned hope that this will avoid new tragedies like that of Lyhanna’s disappearance.