French Justice Minister orders urgent review of 70,000 child sexual abuse complaints by July 14

French Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin on June 8 ordered prosecutors to review all approximately 70,000 pending child sexual abuse complaints by July 14, prioritizing cases where the child complainant is still a minor. The directive, announced at a press conference at the Chancellerie, follows the Lyhanna case, which exposed what Darmanin called "extremely serious" failures in the justice system.

Darmanin called for "general mobilization" of magistrates to identify "all complaints concerning children" for which an investigation has been opened but has not led to a formal judicial inquiry or dismissal, and where investigative steps have clearly not been taken. The priority is cases involving minors who are still children and in need of immediate protection, while cases brought by adults alleging sexual violence from their childhood will be treated as less urgent because "the level of protection expected is not immediately the same."

Sacha Straub-Kahn, spokesperson for the Justice Ministry, said the goal is achievable because the cases are "not unknown" to investigators. "They will need to be able to identify possible blockages" to prevent an urgent file from sitting "for six months, nine months, in a gendarmerie brigade with nothing happening," he said on franceinfo.

Christophe Barret, procureur général near Grenoble and president of the Conférence nationale des procureurs généraux, said magistrates will not re-examine all 70,000 files but will check for unjustified delays. "These are cases already registered in the prosecutor's offices and sent to police and gendarmerie services to continue investigations. We will not be alone on this work," he said.

Linda Kebbab, a police officer and national secretary of Unité SGP police, said the minister is asking for an audit rather than advancing investigations. "Generally, investigators do not immediately notify prosecutors; they wait until they have enough acts. This will be an opportunity to see the difference between cases handled by the prosecutor's office and those languishing in police and gendarmerie services," she said.

Stéphane Fischesser, judge and national secretary of the Syndicat de la magistrature, warned of a risk of missing fine details in a rush. "We risk mistreating these procedures which, on the contrary, deserve a lot of attention and a lot of serious work," he said. Ségolène Marquet, permanent secretary of the same union, said there is a "real fear" that cases will be botched or skimmed over, leading to dismissals without proper examination.

Aurélien Martini, deputy secretary general of the Union syndicale des magistrats, called the announcement "the height of demagoguery." He estimated that the work would fall on magistrates in specialized juvenile prosecutor's offices, not all 9,000 magistrates, and calculated 800 hours of work per magistrate in one month — far exceeding the roughly 250 hours a magistrate typically works per month. "That means we stop everything else, that means we do nothing else," he said.

Jean-Baptiste Bladier, prosecutor of Meaux, said the focus on child sex abuse cases will come at the expense of other cases. "What is certain is that for a month, all prosecutor's offices will devote their energy to sexual violence against minors and that cannot not be done at the expense of the rest," he said. He noted the cancellation of correctional hearings expected by victims and perpetrators of other offenses.

Béatrice Brugère, secretary general of Unité magistrats, said the priority is clear but warned the whole penal chain needs reinforcement. "At least the priority is clear, you can't be more precise," she said. "But to succeed in protecting minors in danger, we need a reflection on the penal chain as a whole."