A French gendarme takes part in a search operation for Émile on July 10, 2023 in the village of Vernet. NICOLAS TUCAT / AFP
A week after his disappearance, the two-and-a-half-year-old child remains untraceable, with investigators still not favoring any leads.
A preliminary investigation will be opened from Monday July 17 in the context of the disappearance of little Émile has learned Le Figaro with the Digne-les-Bains public prosecutor’s office (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence), confirming information from Nice morning. The preliminary investigation will keep the object of “search for causes of disturbing disappearance». “The regime of flagrance will automatically be replaced by that of [l’enquête] preliminary from Monday without the need to open a new investigation“, said the prosecution.
According to Nice-Matin, the criminal code does not allow the flagrance investigation regime to be maintained for more than eight days. A flagrant investigation was opened on Sunday July 9 – the day after the disappearance of the two and a half year old child – also reports Nice-Matin.
A defined procedure
The regime of flagrance – defined by Article 74-1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure – provides in particular that “At the end of a period of eight days from the instructions of this magistrate, these investigations can continue in the forms of the preliminary investigation“. A judicial inquiry could subsequently be opened by decision of the public prosecutor, even if this does not seem to be envisaged for the time being.
Read alsoDisappearance of Émile: “Our only hope now is that he has been kidnapped and is still alive”
A week after his disappearance, little Émile is still nowhere to be found. The child escaped the vigilance of his grandparents in Vernet, a village of 125 inhabitants in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, while he was playing in the garden. According to two witnesses, Émile left on Saturday July 8 “the place of residence of his grandparents” and was seen “on a downhill street by two people». The causes of his disappearance remain unknown while the prosecutor of Digne-les-Bains Rémy Avon clarified this Thursday that “no thesis [n’était] privileged” and that’“no thesis [n’était] excluded”. The small village of Vernet is closed to the public until at least Monday July 17.