The appeal trial of Cécile Bourgeon, mother of little Fiona, and her former companion Berkane Makhlouf opens Tuesday, December 1 before the Rhone Assize Court.
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Thierry Zoccolan / AFP
Cécile Bourgeon, Fiona's mother, and her former companion, Berkane Makhlouf, will be judged for the fourth time from Tuesday before the Assises du Rhône.
They each face 30 years in prison for the death of the girl, killed in 2013 when she was 5 years old and whose body has never been found.
This time, the mother of the child appears free since she was released from detention in February 2019.
Seven years after her disappearance, little Fiona's body has still not been found.
The appeal trial which opens this Tuesday before the Assize Court of the Rhône, may provide answers.
But the doubt is allowed because until then, the languages of the two main defendants have never really untied.
If not to accuse each other.
Cécile Bourgeon, the mother of the child, and her former companion Berkane Makhlouf will again meet before the jury.
For the fourth time.
"I do not expect much from this trial, I do not see what could change", loose a bit annoyed Nicolas Chafoulais, the father of Fiona, on the eve of the hearing.
“They won't explain anything at all,” he fears.
They would have been doing it all this time.
Makhlouf has already served seven years in prison.
If he were to speak, he would take the risk of seeing his sentence lengthened ”.
In 2016, during the trial at first instance, the man in question was sentenced to 20 years in prison for having fatally beaten the girl, who died at the age of 5.
Cécile Bourgeon had received a 5-year sentence, the jurors considering that she was not involved in the death of her child.
The result was only a succession of legal twists.
"Back to square one"
The first appeal trial, a year later, was cut short because of accusations brought by the lawyer for the association Innocence in Danger, claiming that one of the witnesses called in the defense of Berkane Makhlouf was corrupt.
In February 2018, during the second appeal trial, the jurors had this time sentenced Cécile Bourgeon and her ex-partner to 20 years in prison, believing that they were equally responsible for the ordeal inflicted on the little girl.
A verdict overturned by the Court of Cassation, a year later, after doubts about the impartiality of the president of the Assises de Haute-Loire who had taken an aperitif with the lawyers of the civil party.
This fourth trial will therefore be a "return to square one," slips Jean-Félix Luciani, Berkane Makhlouf's lawyer.
The Court of Cassation having quashed the convictions on appeal, we are back to the sentences handed down at first instance ”.
Consequence and not the least: Fiona's mother will appear free before the Assizes since she was released in February 2019 after spending more than five years behind bars.
The justice considered that she had thus served the sentence pronounced in first instance.
"Seeing someone free can lead the jurors to have another look"
“Seeing someone appear freely can lead the jurors to have another look, advance Renaud Portejoie, lawyer Cécile Bourgeon.
The presumption of innocence will be intended to apply fully, especially since it is always more difficult, in the minds of jurors, to send someone free to prison ”.
The relocation of the audience to Lyon could also calm the debates.
"We saw during the trial at first instance that the jurors were able to let go of the emotion, to stay away from what was being said on social networks," he continues.
We can guarantee that they will do the same, especially since, for geographical and health reasons, there will be much less public.
So less pressure, in a way ”.
But for the lawyer, "anything is possible" and the defense is preparing for the possibility of "an unfavorable outcome", he assures us.
Nicolas Chafoulais, he is waiting for one thing: that Cécile Bourgeon serves a long prison sentence, "at least 20 years".
“There she is free.
She won again because she is outside.
It's a shame, ”he protests.
Today, the man says he is tired.
Tired of always having to go back to court.
Used to hearing the same testimonies each time without ever finding an answer to his questions.
“It's been seven and a half years, I'm sick of it.
My whole life revolves around this, he testifies.
I am a slave to it all even though I managed to move on and start my life over.
Cécile Bourgeon, I can't see her anymore.
I don't want to see her anymore but I have to put up with her.
Again and again… "
On the side of the defense, which does not foresee any big revelations in the coming weeks either, it is however assured that the main interested party has done everything to find the remains of her daughter.
She has, for example, undertaken hypnosis sessions, which however did not yield anything.
30 years in prison incurred
“It was a personal initiative.
She had started the process in prison by writing to the examining magistrate.
She did a few sessions when she was released from detention, but for various reasons, it was inconclusive, ”says Renaud Portejoie.
Cécile Bourgeon had also claimed that the first thing she would do when leaving prison would be to take her car to return to Aydat, to look for her child's body.
A promise, however, not kept.
“Believe it or not, she wanted to go,” her advice says.
But I dissuaded him for two reasons: his presence on the scene could have been seen as a provocation.
And it was not excluded that she would also put herself in danger ”.
Today, Cécile Bourgeon, married for nearly a year, lives in Perpignan.
Having been unable to resume professional activities, she works as a volunteer in associations.
And still hopes to be able to regain custody of her fourth child, a little girl she gave birth to at the end of February.
The baby was taken from her as soon as she was born to be placed by the justice services.
“She is mostly awaiting trial.
All the projects that she could undertake are on hold until she is fixed on her fate, ”concludes her lawyer.
The two defendants face 30 years of criminal imprisonment.
If the debates do not spill over, the verdict will be rendered on December 16.
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Assize Court
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Fiona
Cecile Bourgeon
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Berkane Makhlouf