This unique center of its kind, attached to the Nanterre judicial court, has raised a lot of expectations. Visiting the offices of this jurisdiction, two years after its launch, the Minister of Justice announced the upcoming recruitment of two new magistrates, in response to requests for additional resources.
“The objective is a gradual increase in power.” Two years after the creation of the national center for serial or unsolved crimes, commonly called the center cold casesthe Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti, announced Thursday March 7 additional resources for this jurisdiction, which in his eyes constitutes “the honor of justice”with the creation of a position of investigating judge “by 2025” and the arrival of a justice attaché and a new magistrate “shortly”.
Attached to the judicial court of Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine), this center cold cases, unique in the world, was created under his mandate as Minister of Justice, on March 1, 2022, in application of the law for confidence in the judicial institution. Its creation was awaited by victims’ families and their lawyers, who have been hoping for years for answers about the circumstances of the death or disappearance of a loved one.
In two years, the Nanterre public prosecutor’s office, which has three magistrates dedicated to the pole cold cases, examined 385 files. The final decision on the acceptance or refusal of a file rests with the president of the Nanterre judicial court. But the prosecutor, Pascal Prache, warns: “The pole is not intended to take them all.” A selection “fine” is carried out, to retain only the files in which the division can “bring added value”says Pascal Prache.
Nearly 90 files for three investigating judges
According to the figures revealed Thursday, 105 procedures are, in total, in the hands of the magistrates of the pole. Among them, 77 files of serial or unsolved crimes and ten criminal courses, created to retrace the life course of a serial killer, or suspected of being one. They are the subject of judicial information: it is therefore the three investigating judges of the center, including the coordinating magistrate at its head, Sabine Kheris, who are leading the investigations. This allows the Nanterre prosecutor to say that 84% of the pole’s procedures are under investigation. As for the prosecution, 17 unresolved cases and one criminal case are at the preliminary investigation stage.
The investigations carried out within the center since its creation have so far led to three indictments, including that of Dominique P. and Philippe C. The last dates from January 20, fifteen years after the discovery of the body, on the banks from Loiret, by Caroline Marcel, a 45-year-old woman who was jogging. A man suspected of having killed her has been arrested. DNA traces made it possible to identify it, proof that scientific technical progress makes it possible to resolve cold cases.
Another turning point was reached with the first trial to be concluded within the division. The hearing was held before the Hauts-de-Seine Assize Court and made it possible to judge Monique Olivier, the ex-wife of serial killer and rapist Michel Fourniret, for cases dating back several decades. She was sentenced to life imprisonment for complicity in the kidnappings and murders of Marie-Angèle Domèce, Joanna Parrish and Estelle Mouzin.
The fear of “justice without memory”
Today, Eric Mouzin, the father of Estelle, who died on January 9, 2003, questions the ambition of the center: “What is the real will of the public authorities?” Because since the disappearance of his daughter, he has been fighting to improve the judicial treatment of cases of missing children, supported by the Estelle association. Long before the pole saw the light of day, he repeatedly called for “a body of specialized judges”.
Tuesday afternoon, during a press conference at the office of his lawyer, Didier Seban, he spoke of his hopes regarding this pole: “We expect a lot.” “We are very happy that it exists, because we have the impression that the files are movinggreeted his lawyer, specializing in cold cases. But there is not enough energy to make the pole a response to the hopes of families.”
“The center is unfortunately not equipped with 21st century resources.”
Didier Seban, lawyerat a press conference
On February 23, Didier Seban sent a letter in the form of an assessment to the Minister of Justice. “The ambitions that you had placed in this creation are very diminished”, writes the lawyer. In his missive, he lists five areas of concern, including the creation of a website with the reporting of missing people or at least children, a long-standing request from the lawyer. Didier Seban also pleads for software that would make it possible to “gather” all the department’s files, to improve the fluidity of communication between magistrates. Because internally, it is said that teamwork is almost non-existent and that innovative and relevant working methods are not exchanged.
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Didier Seban is also concerned with the creation of a criminal memory. Thus, according to the lawyer, in certain investigation firms, the gradual deployment of new software makes files closed before 2018 inaccessible, due to incompatibility with the old software. “Little by little, the servers are breaking down and nothing is being done to reactivate them”despairs Didier Seban, who fears “a justice without memory”. A subject about which Eric Dupond-Moretti says he was alerted by the magistrates of the pole cold cases. Thursday morning, the minister assured that he was working to improve the pole’s resources, particularly in terms of IT. “We must put everything that technology offers us at the service of the magistrates who keep this center alive”, he insisted.
A lack of human and material resources
Another crucial point: the question of human resources. The Minister of Justice confirmed the arrival, announced several months ago, of a fourth investigating judge within the division. But Didier Seban hopes for two additional investigating magistrates to be able to “move forward”. “We have 30 cases per judge, it’s making fun of families”he insists.
“We did not create a center to manage 100 files, but to solve thousands of crimes.”
Didier Seban, lawyerat a press conference
Also specialized in cold caseslawyer Corinne Herrmann also calls for more human and material resources: “We never see Judge Sabine Kheris and her clerk in the same offices. They have to change every three months.” Since 2022, the Nanterre judicial court has been under construction, at the heart of energy renovation work. “They had created a warm place to welcome the victims, but we take it from them every time”deplores the lawyer.
Several sources, including Corinne Herrmann, also tell franceinfo that the judge and the clerk had to wait a year before obtaining a simple photocopier. They don’t have work phones either. Faced with these shortcomings, a judicial source recognizes that “the specificity of the pole has been taken into account” to allocate resources to it, but that this is not “probably not enough”.
During his visit to the Nanterre judicial court, Eric Dupond-Moretti confirmed that the investigating magistrates, the clerks, the prosecutors had “expresses a number of needs [humains] that they consider necessary and that we will put in place. Some are already being developed.”he announced.
A center to “bring families out of the dark”
Many families also denounce the waiting times for the transfer of a file. Or the absence of a response to justify a refusal. “When we want to know more, we are told: ‘It’s saturated, so we are no longer taking cases, but we are going to create a culture which will spread to other jurisdictions’, mocks Didier Seban. If the physical transfer of files is sometimes complex, it is because “logistical reasons”justifies the public prosecutor of Nanterre.
“There are files that take a long time to find. When they are old, they are not digitized. And the seals must be transferred, that can take time.”
Pascal Prache, public prosecutor of Nanterreat franceinfo
If a drastic choice applies in the selection of files, according to the prosecutor, it is because there is a desire to give the investigating magistrates time to investigate, in order to avoid responding to the families: “The file is at the pole, but it is not moving.” However legitimate their expectations may be, Pascal Prache warns that they cannot all be met and that not all cases can be resolved: “We have no kind of guarantee of elucidation.” But, he assures, “we never lose sight of the daily drama that certain families of victims experience”.
“Even if we do not have the absolute assurance of succeeding in finding, at least with a lot of humanity and professionalism, the magistrates surround these families to tell them: ‘There is still hope’added Eric Dupond-Moretti, Thursday morning. And sometimes this hope is crowned with success. According to the Minister of Justice, “this pole is extremely important because it brings a certain number of victims’ families out of darkness.” For them, “Nothing would be worse than saying that everything has not been done.”