France outraged over judicial failings as missing 11-year-old's body identified - Reuters

<a href="https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiuAFBVV95cUxQb29XUEFRdTB6d1pWUVJiWS0zZUo3M2FZd0UwMXdkekRCS2JiblByRnIzT3NfSjRJWDNFWHNsZHJkeEdZVTNyZ3RnTDV3TTF5VnM4d1NOSkVTZy1ZMlIwLXF3RzBnZGlDSC1nQlRSUFo5Vm9GVElsWWRDZGdkS0djd0Z1Yk5VM3Rsc0xzcFJNLVkzWDV1UjdQdjdwR2RGOGZyaTNwUWkxd3JFYldWQ1ZlTEtrZ3l0SFQt?oc=5" target="_blank">France outraged over judicial failings as missing 11-year-old's body identified</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<font color="#6f6f6f">Reuters</font>

The tragic death of 11-year-old Lyhanna in France has ignited nationwide outrage over failures in the French judicial system. After she went missing on May 29 in the Gers region, her body was found six days later in an abandoned grain silo. The suspect, a 41-year-old man previously accused of sexual offenses against minors, had reportedly been seen with Lyhanna on surveillance cameras. Authorities confirmed her identity through DNA tests, while the cause of death is still under investigation.

A body discovered in southwestern France was identified on Friday as that of a missing 11-year-old girl whose case has sparked outrage after authorities disclosed they had not acted on previous allegations of child rape against the main suspect. The victim, who has only been identified by her first name, Lyhanna, was reported missing in the small southern town of Fleurance on May 29, after leaving school. The 41-year-old father of a classmate was arrested on evidence that he was seen with her on the afternoon she disappeared. After a massive search, the body was discovered on Thursday in farmland near her hometown.

Outrage has erupted in France after it emerged the main suspect in the case of an 11-year-old girl missing since last week had been repeatedly accused of sexually abusing children with no action taken. A body was discovered on Thursday and formal identification was underway, an informed source said. Dozens of police and volunteers have for days been combing countryside in south-western France to find the girl, who has been identified only by her first name, Lyhanna. She went missing on Friday near the village of Fleurance, and was last seen getting into a man’s car. A 41-year-old father of two has been detained as the key suspect. A prosecutor has said that previous legal complaints existed against the suspect accusing him of raping a minor, leading to a national uproar about alleged judicial failings. “What we’re discovering day after day is absolutely unbearable,” the government spokesperson Maud Bregeon said. “It raises a profound question: what importance do we give to victims’ testimonies? How are investigations conducted?” Bregeon told the Europe 1 and CNews broadcasters. Volunteers on horseback helped about 170 police search for the child on Thursday.

A firestorm of recrimination raged in France on Friday over the feared killing of a missing 11-year-old girl, with the judicial system accused of having failed to act on previous allegations of rape against the suspect in custody. The search in southwest France for the girl identified by police as Lyhanna has gripped national and, increasingly, political attention since she went missing after school on May 29. French police guard a farm silo where a body was found yesterday during the search to find missing 11 year-old girl Lyhanna in Puycasquier, southwestern France, Friday, June,5, 2026. (AP Photo/Frederic Lancelot)

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu summoned the interior minister, the justice minister and others on Friday over the case of a missing 11-year-old girl that has sparked an outcry over judicial missteps and missed opportunities to intervene, the government said. Lyhanna, currently identified only by her first name, was reported missing in her small southern French town of Fleurance on May 29 after she left her middle school in the afternoon. The suspect arrested in the case, the father of one of her classmates, had been the subject of several complaints of sexual assault against children. Political figures on the right and left, including far-right leader Jordan Bardella and Green leader Marine Tondelier, have seized upon the case as a demonstration of judicial dysfunction and failure to protect women and children from sexual violence.