French authorities are urgently reviewing around 88,000 complaints of sexual violence against minors following the murder of 11-year-old Lyhanna, a case that has triggered nationwide outrage over repeated failures by the justice system and child protection services.
Lyhanna was allegedly killed by a man who had previously been the subject of multiple complaints for sexual abuse and rape of children.
He was even flagged by American services, who warned France.
Despite these prior warnings, the suspect was never convicted and remained at large, allowing the tragedy to occur.
The case has become a symbol of deeper, long-standing problems in how France handles complaints involving the sexual abuse of children.
Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin, who has been the target of calls for his resignation, has openly acknowledged a “terrible failure from the state, and of the justice system.”
In an interview with Le Monde on June 30, Darmanin stressed that the figure of 88,000 was up from the 70,000 mentioned after the murder of Lyhanna.
He said that in 7,452 cases the alleged perpetrator is known by Justice.
While there has been “an extremely important awareness of the entire penal chain” on violence against women, this has “not totally” been the case for children, Darmanin added.
He said that the ministry was “structurally lacking in resources”, and that there are also “individual errors, as shown by the inspection” on the dysfunctions in the follow-up of the alleged murderer of Lyhanna, who was never heard or even summoned while being a target of several complaints for the rape of minors.
Darmanin said that the trust between magistrates and citizens was waning and that he regretted this.
President Emmanuel Macron previously described the lapses as “unacceptable”.
In response, Darmanin has ordered prosecutors across the country to re-examine all outstanding complaints involving violence against minors as an absolute priority.
The murder of Lyhanna has sparked protests in several cities, with demonstrators accusing the authorities of negligence.
The girl’s family and campaigners have highlighted how previous complaints against the suspect were allegedly not properly investigated or acted upon.
This review of 88,000 cases comes amid growing public awareness of the scale of child sexual violence in France.
Independent commissions and reports have previously estimated that tens of thousands of children are victims each year, with many cases going unreported or unprosecuted.
High-profile scandals in recent years, including abuses in institutions and within families, have already exposed gaps in protection, reporting mechanisms and prosecution rates.
Critics argue that statute of limitations rules, overloaded courts, and insufficient coordination between police, social services, and prosecutors have allowed perpetrators to reoffend.
Darmanin is due to defend his criminal justice reform bill in the National Assembly from Tuesday after it was rejected in committee.
The text, intended in particular to relieve congestion in the courts, has already lost its flagship measure — the criminal guilty plea — and remains highly contested by lawyers.
Nevertheless, it envisages the expansion of departmental criminal courts, whose main activity would be judging rape cases, with the creation of sixty such bodies across France, according to Darmanin.
The suspect in Lyhanna’s murder remains in custody, and the full circumstances of the case are still under investigation.
