France
About 6,000 people took part in a white march in memory of Lyhanna in the French municipality of Fleurance, close to Toulouse. The 11-year-old girl went missing at the end of May. Investigators found her body Thursday in a remote grain silo. “Fleurance is a city full of anger in a country full of anger,” said mayor Grégory Bobbato afterwards.
Journalist at HLN
Source: Belga, BFMTV
LOOK. Thousands of people come together to commemorate 11-year-old Lyhanna
Lyhanna’s parents were also present at the march, which started at 3 p.m. “My daughter would be very touched by all the people who gathered for her today,” an aunt of Lyhanna emotionally read from a letter from the girl’s mother. “Our little world has collapsed,” he said.
Lyhanna’s parents walked at the front of the march, together with the mayor of Fleurance. They held a banner that read: “Never like this again! We love you and we miss you.”
The mayor of Fleurance, Grégory Bobbato, responded sharply afterwards.
“The reality is that Lyhanna is the final act of a tragedy that has been unfolding for too long: that of ignoring what children say,” Bobbato said. He spoke of “the bankruptcy of our most important mission, as an elected official and as a country.”
“For too long we have tolerated a system that stifles instead of listening, that discourages instead of encouraging, asking children to talk like adults, in adult environments, without being adults.” The mayor called it a “social failure”.
“How many more white marches or minutes of silence do we have to experience? Children who become victims should never again be confronted with an accumulation of complaints without consequences, due to the lack of clear evidence. Never again should children fall prey to predators who roam around with complete impunity.”
Defects within Justice
Meetings are being organized in several French cities on Monday in front of courts and town halls. The aim is to expose the shortcomings within the Justice Department.
After all, complaints were already filed against 41-year-old main suspect Jérôme B., the father of a girlfriend of Lyhanna, in 2022 and 2025 for sexual offenses against a minor. The first complaint was dismissed without action and the investigation into the second complaint is still ongoing.
Residents of Fleurance testify that they are very shocked by the death of 11-year-old Lyhanna
Sorry
Many French people, including politicians, are demanding clarity about structural deficits and possible mistakes at the Auch public prosecutor’s office, which handled the previous complaints against Jérôme B.
French Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin apologized to Lyhanna’s family and the French people on Friday. He admitted that mistakes had been made in following up on the complaints and promised to draw all necessary consequences.
