In this case, Cédric Jubillar is indicted and referred to the Tarn assizes. But the prosecution believes that checks “must be carried out”. The Court of Appeal announced on Thursday that it had accepted this request and therefore ordered additional information.
Will Cédric Jubillar, indicted for the murder of his wife Delphine, detained for almost three years, be tried in 2024? The possibility that a trial will be held soon is diminishing, in the case of the disappearance of this nurse in Tarn, who has not given any sign of life since mid-December 2020. Because a request for additional information , filed on January 12 by the attorney general of Toulouse, due to new elements to be verified, is causing trouble.
The Court of Appeal examined it on January 18. She finally decided to grant it, Thursday February 8, because she considers “that the requested acts are of interest”according to a press release sent to the media, including franceinfo. “In its decision, the investigating chamber recalls that the requirement to seek the truth must be combined with the need to deliver justice within a reasonable time”, underlines the press release. In other words, new investigations, if they delay the holding of a trial, must not postpone it to too distant a date.
Verifications on a conversation between an inmate and his mother
It is a telephone conversation which raises questions, franceinfo learned from a source close to the matter, even if the real content of this exchange has not been revealed. According to our information, in this conversation, listened to by the prison administration, a woman discusses the disappearance of Delphine Jubillar with her son, a man convicted of attempted murder and previously incarcerated in the same establishment as Cédric Jubillar. The detainee cites three people in particular, “Sébastien, Mathieu and Sofiane”.
However, according to information from franceinfo, the first names Sofiane and Sébastien appear in the file: it was to Sofiane that Cédric Jubillar confided that he wanted to kill and bury his wife who was about to leave him. At the time of Delphine Jubillar’s disappearance, in the middle of a curfew linked to the Covid-19 epidemic, the couple, who have two children, were in the process of divorcing.
“The trial does not scare us”
Without confirming these elements, the public prosecutor of Toulouse explained to AFP at the end of January that “the checks that must be made” cannot be, to date, “only within the framework of this additional information”. In fact, since November 2023, the investigation has been closed. Two judges referred Cédric Jubillar to the Tarn Assize Court for the murder of his wife. Therefore, a request for additional information is essential to carry out further investigations. To investigate within the framework of this additional information, these two investigating magistrates have been appointed again.
“This is therefore in no way the expression of a deficiency in the investigation. It is part of the logic which, from the beginning, has prevailed in this case and which consists of checking all avenues.”
Franck Rastoul, attorney general of Toulouseto AFP
“It’s been two and a half years since Cédric Jubillar has been indicted and for as long as we say that the file is empty. This request for additional information shows that we are not just talking nonsense”estimates Jean-Baptiste Alary, one of Cédric Jubillar’s three lawyers, to franceinfo. “If new investigations are useful in revealing the truth, it is perhaps not complete at present”he emphasizes.
Cédric Jubillar, plaster painter, now 36 years old, denies any responsibility in this affair without a body, no confession, no witness, no crime scene. His lawyers consider that investigators do not have proof of his guilt. During the investigation, they therefore filed several requests for release, all of which were rejected. And they appealed his referral to the assizes.
“I still dare to believe that the magistrates think that the case does not stand up and that a dismissal of the case can be pronounced.”
Jean-Baptiste Alary, lawyer for Cédric Jubillarat franceinfo
The rest of the schedule therefore depends on the next legal decisionss. “When these additional investigations have been carried out, the file will be examined again before the investigating chamber,” specifies the Toulouse Court of Appeal in its press release on Thursday. “The trial is not a deadline that scares us. We exercise the rights of the defense and we are simply there to uphold principles”, affirms Jean-Baptiste Alary. Principles which, in his eyes, “were trampled upon by the investigating judges”.
One sentence from the indictment order, in particular, makes Jean-Baptiste Alary jump: “All the elements collected during the judicial investigation demonstrate that Cédric Jubillar is the author of the murder of his wife.” The lawyer believes that this is a “shocking attack on the presumption of innocence”. He and his colleagues announced at a press conference in November their intention to file a complaint with the Superior Council of the Judiciary. Today, they prefer to wait before filing this complaint.
“There is a need for justice to be done”
“It is the defense’s game to say that the work was poorly done during the investigation. The reality is that this work is colossal. Nothing was left to chance”, estimates Pauline Rongier, lawyer for a friend of Delphine Jubillar, contacted by franceinfo. According to her, this request for additional information shows that all the elements are “exploited” until the end. “It is a sign that important work continues. Additional information requires a little time, but not many months, it’s quite targeted”she emphasizes.
For the lawyer, all the steps which can lead to “the manifestation of truth” are essential, especially since the body of Delphine Jubillar has not been found. “Knowing where he is is one of the goals of his loved ones. There is also this need for justice to be done, for a trial to take place and for their suffering to be heard”argues Pauline Rongier. “We must keep this procedure unassailable and not unnecessarily give the defense weapons to claim that justice would only investigate the prosecution”added, Thursday morning, Philippe Pressecq, lawyer for a cousin of Delphine Jubillar, after the court’s decision to order additional information.
For his part, Laurent Nakache-Haarfi, who represents the brothers and sister of Delphine Jubillar, judge “amazing” that new elements are emerging today. But, he told franceinfo, “it doesn’t change anything” : “The conclusions will remain the same. Unless we come across something exceptional, a trial of Cédric Jubillar can never be avoided.”.