Minister of Justice Gérald Darmanin has referred a deputy prosecutor from the Auch public prosecutor’s office to the Superior Council of the Magistracy (CSM) following a systemic failure in the case of Lyhanna, an 11-year-old girl murdered in the Gers on June 4.
The Ministry of Justice confirmed the referral on Thursday, November 12, following a report published by Le Parisien. Mr. Darmanin accused the 56-year-old magistrate, who has since gone on sick leave, of a “manquement à son devoir de conscience professionnelle” regarding her handling of the procedure.
Lyhanna, a middle school student, was found dead on June 4, and Jérôme Barella has since been put under formal investigation for the murder and rape of a minor under the age of 15.
Investigations revealed that Barella had previously been accused by another young girl, Rosa, in August 2025. Despite rape accusations corroborated by a forensic medical examination, those earlier allegations did not result in police custody or even an interrogation.
According to a report delivered to the minister nearly two months prior by justice, gendarmerie, and education inspections, the Auch magistrate showed real shortcomings in her deficient handling of the procedure, with the minister stating that a lack of resources or personnel could not be blamed.
The inspections found that the administrative order instructing investigators to continue their work, known as a “soit-transmis”, was prepared by a justice assistant rather than the deputy prosecutor herself, and without informing her hierarchy.
Neither the magistrate nor her assistant consulted the Cassiopée justice database concerning the suspect. Barella already had a file in the system for a previous involvement in a rape case concerning a 9-year-old girl—a case that the exact same magistrate had handled and dismissed without further action.
The review also scrutinized the magistrate’s career history, noting she spent 22 years as a court clerk before becoming a magistrate.
The mission found that more than four out of five soit-transmis orders signed by the magistrate concerning the rape of minors contained no deadline for investigations, compared to 22% for other prosecutors at the Auch office. For sexual assault cases involving minors, two-thirds of her orders lacked deadlines, compared to 28% for her colleagues.
