Lyhanna affair: Darmanin refers the matter to the Judicial Council in the case of a magistrate from the Auch public prosecutor's office

Nearly two months after submitting a damning inspection report, Gérald Darmanin takes the next step. The Minister of Justice referred the matter to the Superior Council of the Judiciary (CSM) against a substitute for the Auch prosecutor, for a “breach of his duty of professional conscience” in the Lyhanna affair, sources close to the case indicated, confirming information from Le Parisien.

The minister criticizes him in particular for not having checked the background of Jérôme Barella, indicted for the murder and rape of this 11-year-old girl found dead on June 4 in Gers. He is also accused of not having organized an investigation point with the judicial police officer responsible for the procedure.

A suspect already indicted for rape

The case revealed serious shortcomings in the handling of a previous complaint. In August 2025, another little girl, named Rosa, had already accused Jérôme Barella of rape. Accusations corroborated by forensic expertise, but which did not give rise to either police custody or interrogation.

Even more disturbing, the suspect had already been involved in another case of rape of a nine-year-old child, handled and dismissed by the same magistrate. However, neither the prosecutor nor her assistant had consulted Cassiopeia, the Justice database, which contained a file in her name.

The report from the justice, gendarmerie and education inspections also noted that the be-transmitted, the document asking investigators to continue their investigations, had been prepared by a justice assistant and not by the magistrate herself. His superiors had not been informed of this.

“Real shortcomings”

For Gérald Darmanin, the inspections highlighted “real inadequacies in the faulty handling of this procedure”. The minister believes that they cannot be explained by a lack of resources or personnel. The magistrate, aged 56 and currently on sick leave, had previously worked as a clerk for twenty-two years.

The report also looked more broadly at his professional practices. More than four out of five reports that she had signed in cases of rape of minors did not include any deadline for carrying out the investigations, compared to 22% for the other magistrates of the Auch public prosecutor's office. For cases of sexual assault on minors, this proportion reached two thirds, compared to 28% among his colleagues.