“We have no certainty about the elucidation capabilities,” recalls the prosecutor in charge of the Nanterre cold cases division, two years after its creation

Two years after the creation of the Nanterre cold cases unit, prosecutor Pascal Prache welcomes the new means announced by the Ministry of Justice.

The Nanterre cold cases center is celebrating its second anniversary. This specialized judicial center is now in charge of 105 unresolved cases. The oldest case he seeks to solve dates back 52 years.

Visiting Nanterre on Thursday March 7, Minister of Justice Éric Dupond-Moretti announced additional resources. A fourth investigating judge will join the cold cases unit at the start of next year. Concretely, this means that the center will then be able to take up around thirty new unresolved cases. This increase in power is essential to meet the expectations of dozens of bereaved families who knock on the door of the cold cases center.

Expectations that the Nanterre prosecutor, Pascal Prache, understands even if he wishes to point out that these cases are the hardest to resolve: “We have no certainty, in most cases, about the real elucidation capacities. Because by definition, the center handles the cases which are the most complex and which have not been elucidated elsewhere. does not rule out, and we hope so, that we succeed in clarifying a certain number of files.”

“We know very well that the very high expectations of victims, at the end of the procedures, cannot be met.”

Pascal Prache, Nanterre prosecutor

at franceinfo

In two years, the investigations carried out by the cold cases unit led to the trial of Monique Ollivier, sentenced last December to life imprisonment in three murder cases attributed to Michel Fourniret. Five people were also indicted in other criminal cases.

A unique procedural tool: the criminal journey

Only the cold case center can launch this type of procedure in France. At this stage, 12 criminal pathways are being studied. Francis Heaulme, Nordhal Lelandais, Michel Fourniret, among others, therefore see their lives dissected by investigators, explains Pascal Prache: “The investigations will focus on the person’s life history: professional, personal, legal history. And with these elements that have been collected, we will try to identify if we can make a connection with facts which themselves make the subject of other procedures, at the center or outside, to feed these files and try to verify this lead.”

The aim is of course to identify possible new victims and therefore to solve new cases. The cold cases unit is also preparing to launch calls for witnesses in the coming weeks.
They will concern cases for which the provision of new testimonies could prove decisive.