two years after the creation of the cold case center in Nanterre “we are giving this center the means of 20th century justice”, laments lawyer Didier Seban

Two years after the creation of the cold cases center in Nanterre, Me Didier Seban, lawyer specializing in cold cases, guest, Tuesday March 5, on franceinfo, regrets the lack of resources. “We are giving this center the means of justice for the 20th century and not the 21st century.”

He denounces the lack of human resources. Currently three judges work at the center on around a hundred cases but he explains that there are “several thousand cold cases and we are now told that’s it, the low point has been reached, we can no longer take new ones, unless we resolve them. It is not possible. This is not audible to families who wait 20 or 30 years.”he protests.

“A cautious judicial administration”

The lack of logistical resources is also highlighted by the lawyer. “Today we are destroying France’s criminal memory since the old software that was used by the investigating judge is no longer maintained and we can no longer have access to these files.” He denounces “a judicial administration which is cautious, which lacks ambition for the pole” and asks “a website with all the cold cases in France which will allow them to be listed, where everyone can possibly provide information”. For him, “everyone works in their own corner and we cannot create this criminal memory necessary at the pole level”.

After two years of creation, he still salutes “the referral of Monique Olivier to the Assize Court for the Mouzin, Parrish and Domèce cases” or “the resolution of the Marcel affair, a very old unresolved affair in central France”.