Europe 1 05:30, May 18, 2022

Since March 1, the national judicial center dedicated to "unsolved, serial and complex crimes" has been officially operational.

While waiting for a first official stage, Sabine Kheris, the magistrate who coordinates it, explains to Europe 1 her commitment.

It demands that the means promised be made available to magistrates and investigators.

EXCLUSIVE

She is the oldest examining magistrate in Paris but she remains unknown to the general public.

Since March 1, Judge Sabine Kheris has officially piloted the new judicial center devoted to "unsolved, serial and complex crimes".

Within the Nanterre judicial court, this "cold cases" center is intended to deal with cases from all over France, to allow these files to "stay alive judicially" in the words of the Keeper of the Seals Eric Dupond-Moretti.

Sabine Kheris has for this a solid experience on which to rely: eighth judge in charge of the Estelle Mouzin case, it was she who had succeeded in 2020 in obtaining a confession from the serial killer Michel Fourniret.

But to advance other "cold cases" and beyond the announcement effects, Judge Kheris breaks her silence for the first time and says it today without detour in remarks entrusted to Europe 1: she has need more resources.

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Sabine Kheris, who has always held to very strict respect for the secrecy of the investigation within the framework of her functions, is not accustomed to taking positions in the media.

But in her new functions, she measures the expectations of the litigants more than ever: "The purpose of the creation of this pole is above all to provide answers to many families who often feel forgotten by Justice", explains- she in a written response to our questions.

The impossibility of implementing "innovative methods"

"We are starting to receive cases, but for the moment the lack of material means does not yet allow us to put in place the innovative methods which are essential for the treatment of these complex and old cases", she summarizes. .

Within the "cold cases" pole, to allow these unresolved investigations to finally succeed, a team of dedicated magistrates has been appointed, surrounded by clerks and specialized assistants.

The objective: to succeed in establishing links between files that are sometimes geographically distant and to better identify the modus operandi of criminals in order to make connections.

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"We hope, thanks to the experience we have acquired and the scientific techniques we have used in Estelle Mouzin's case, to be able to elucidate old cases", specifies Sabine Kheris.

According to information gathered by Europe 1 before an official communication, seven files are currently in the hands of the investigating judges, two of which have been transmitted in recent days by the Nanterre prosecution.

Several dozen other cases are under review.

A balance sheet which remains very far from the announcements made at the time of the creation of the pole, where the figure of 240 cases had been mentioned.

According to Me Didier Seban, one of the lawyers for Estelle Mouzin's father invited from Europe 1 on Tuesday morning, the families of victims should in turn mobilize quickly to demand real resources dedicated to the "cold cases" pole.

For them, the truth is at this price.