Judge Sabine Khéris made a “excellent work” corn “no one is irreplaceable”, estimated Saturday January 8 on franceinfo Jacques Dallest, the attorney general of the Court of Appeal of Grenoble. He reacted to the departure, on December 31, of this investigating judge in charge of the Estelle Mouzin case since 2019. In a letter to the Minister of Justice, the girl’s father said he was afraid “a loss of information in the processing of ongoing investigations”.
franceinfo: The judge is leaving for questions of career organization, what does that mean?
When a specialized magistrate such as a juvenile judge or an examining magistrate reaches the end of his 10 years, it is a statutory period. He must leave his post. It is a rule provided for in the texts, we cannot derogate from it.
Is it in the interests of justice?
One can imagine that after a certain number of years, it is useful to know other functions.
“Nobody owns their position, it is a strong rule in the judiciary.”
Jacques Sallest, Attorney General of the Grenoble Court of Appealto franceinfo
Obviously we can lose an experience, but we know the rule well: no one is irreplaceable. Sabine Khéris is a pugnacious magistrate, who has considerably advanced the case. I can understand Mr. Mouzin’s fears. In any case, her clerk should stay in her office, and she can ensure a form of memory and continuity so that Ms. Khéris’ successor can take on this file under the best possible conditions.
According to information from franceinfo, the Minister of Justice must say in a few days which court has his preference for the new “Cold Case” pole (Editor’s note: unresolved case). Could Judge Khéris work on the Mouzin case, if it was done there?
Not as an examining magistrate in any case, and then it is not obvious that she is integrated into this pole. But this specialized pole is a very good thing. I also believe that we should go further and create others, three or four, given the very large number of unsolved cases, which seem to me to merit several specialized courts. We owe that to families. There needs to be a real availability of the magistrates in charge of these cases, which requires specialization.