France Holds Farewell For 11-Year-Old Lyhanna As Jérôme Barella Stands Trial

France held a farewell for 11-year-old Lyhanna in Fleurance, where AFP reported that several hundred people gathered in southwestern France on Friday after her suspected murder sparked protests across the country.

“- Published An 11-year-old girl called Lyhanna, murdered two weeks ago in south-western France, has been buried amid persistent public anger at failings that left her suspected killer at large”

BBC

The France 24 report said the body of the girl, named as Lyhanna, was found last week after she went missing on May 29 in the southwestern town of Fleurance, and it identified the suspect as a 41-year-old father of a school friend of the victim.

BBC

BBC said Lyhanna was buried in the cemetery of Fleurance, 50km (30 miles) west of Toulouse, after she was murdered two weeks earlier, and it reported that flags flew at half-mast at Fleurance town hall.

The BBC also said the prime suspect, Jérôme Barella, 41, was denounced nine months ago to police for alleged repeated sexual abuse of a 10-year-old, and it added that he was not questioned even once by investigators.

In the same BBC account, it reported that the French National Office for Minors (OFMIN) said the signal came in 2023 and was judged to be "weak".

Le Monde reported that the online behavior of the 41-year-old temp worker raised alarms as far away as the United States, and it said the US-based NCMEC sent several alerts about him to OFMIN before the Lyhanna case emerged.

Le Monde said Barella had been charged and detained for "kidnapping and unlawful confinement" of the girl, and it framed the controversy around how scattered pieces of information prevented investigators from fully assessing the danger he posed.

CGTN

BBC said French police only discovered the US alert after conducting a trawl for Barella's name following his arrest last week, and it reported that the French National Office for Minors (OFMIN) received around 300,000 signals every year.

The BBC also reported that on Wednesday, Barella's brother Yannick was placed under investigation for rape following complaints by two women, and it said Yannick was taken into custody this week when he went to police to complain of defamation.

In Fleurance, France 24 quoted mayor Gregory Bobbato saying, "We are not saying goodbye to a symbol or a cause, but to an 11-and-a-half-year-old girl: Lyhanna," as mourners carried a small blue coffin to the cemetery.

BBC said Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin resisted calls for his resignation, and it reported that an opinion poll Friday showed that two-thirds of those asked thought he should stay in his job.

“France bids farewell to girl, 11, whose killing sparked outrage Fleurance (France) (AFP) – Several hundred people gathered in southwestern France on Friday to bid farewell to an 11-year-old girl whose suspected murder sparked protests across the country and exposed failures in the country's judicial system”

France 24

In the BBC account, Darmanin said blunders in the run-up to Lyhanna's murder were not the result of a lack of resources or manpower, but of a failure to give proper priority to what was obviously a serious case.

BBC reported that French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu vowed to toughen the legal arsenal by lengthening jail sentences for child-rapists and setting a time limit for investigations into claims of sex abuse of minors.

The BBC said campaigning groups promised to stage protests outside courts around the country every Monday, and it quoted Sophie Binet, head of the CGT union: "This isn't female hysterics. We need structural change."

Separately, France 24 said around 60,000 people protested the killing across France this week, with some demanding the resignation of Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin.