his son Selim has “no memories of Estelle Mouzin”

Selim Fourniret is questioned about possible participation in his parents’ crimes, without his knowledge. No, they never asked him to make any phone calls. He also does not remember, when he was in the car with his father, whether he was scouting out future victims.

“At the time, even though I was 15 years old at the time of the last affair, I did not suspect my parents of their behavior,” repeats Selim Fourniret.

The young man only remembers a scene that he can neither date nor locate. “I remember that one day the three of us were in the car, I remember that he stopped on the side of the road to ask a person for directions. He cut off the engine, then when the person was part, he restarted the engine. And he said to Monique ‘you see the respect, you turn off the engine to hear the person’.”

For a year, Selim Fourniret lived alone with his mother Monique Olivier after the incarceration of his father Michel Fourniret. “She was fine, we didn’t talk about the affair,” she remembers.

During this period, Monique Olivier was regularly interviewed by investigators, before implicating Michel Fourniret in six murders. “When she went to the audition I asked her how it went. She said to me ‘it went well, I was asked questions about your father’.”

Selim Fourniret remembers that in his childhood home there were “weapons” and “a lot of money”. After his father’s arrest, he thought “they had done a robbery, I thought they had done something stupid”.

Me Didier Seban wishes to question Monique Olivier about her son’s testimony, which she listens to attentively. The septuagenarian seems to have something to say but is immediately cut off by the president of the assize court.

Selim Fourniret returns to the role of his mother in his father’s crimes. “She wanted to continue, she stayed,” he repeats.

The young man returns to “the first reflex” that Monique Olivier had when Michel Fourniret was arrested and placed in detention. “It meant moving 10 km from the remand center where he was incarcerated,” he emphasizes.

Selim Fourniret rejects the idea that his mother was “under the influence”. “Why didn’t she take advantage of this moment to leave? Belgium is a small country but there is still room, she was not obliged to go and live next to the remand center”, he concludes.

It is the turn of the civil parties to ask questions. Me Didier Seban asks him if he has memories of several details, linked to the murders judged by the Assize Court.

“I would like to remember and at the same time I would like to forget,” replies Selim Fourniret.

Selim Fourniret says he thought of several methods to perhaps “reveal buried memories.” “Maybe we could find information that I’ve been hiding to protect myself,” he suggests.

“I regularly try to think back to this past period to provide some answers to those close to me, but nothing comes back to me.”

Selim Fourniret is questioned about his relationship with his father after his incarceration. He began an epistolary correspondence with Michel Fourniret as part of a book project The ogre’s sonco-written with a journalist, Olivier Porri Santoro.

On January 16, 2016, the duo went to the remand center where Michel Fourniret was incarcerated. “One day marked a white stone,” the killer told him. During this meeting, the killer talks about the Parrish and Mouzin affair. Concerning Estelle Mouzin, “he remained straight in his boots”. But Michel Fourniret recognizes the murder of Joanna Parrish.

“The only regret he had was killing Farida Hammiche (murder for which he was convicted in 2018, Editor’s note). It was a woman like that, miming a thumbs up, it’s a shame to have killed her.”

During this meeting, Michel Fourniret also cried when talking about the death of his eldest son. “But in relation to me he did not express any other regrets,” laments Selim Fourniret.

“I lived for 15 years with actors, in front of me they did not talk about what they had done,” says Selim Fourniret, assuring that he never had any suspicions about the criminal behavior of his parents.

“They were actor dad, actor mom. I never suspected the people they really were.”

Selim Fournriet returns to the facts for which his mother Monique Olivier is being tried: “I was horrified to know that she was not a victim. I saw the letters written between her and him, she said that she wanted work with her beast. It’s a pact that’s made, she was aware of what was happening, she signed.”

“For me he was not a victim, an accomplice,” he insists before the Assize Court.

He returns to the last time he saw his mother, in the office of investigating judge Sabine Khéris during a confrontation. “She didn’t ask me how I was, she didn’t ask me for news,” he regrets facing Monique Olivier who is contesting in the box.

The judge then asked if Monique Olivier had something to say to her son. Question to which she answered in the negative. “From there, she is a woman who has no emotions, who is manipulative, who pretends.”

When Estelle Mouzin was kidnapped, Selim Fourniret was 14 and a half years old. A former co-detainee of Monique Olivier claims that the latter confided to him that on the night of the kidnapping the teenager saw the little girl at the couple’s home.

“I have never seen the young girl. I am not aware of this presence, I have not seen anyone in the cellar, I have not heard anything. I have not seen any scum coming out of the ordinary from Michel and Monique.”

“I do not question the testimony but I have no memories of an alleged cousin. (…) To my knowledge, nothing happened.”

Selim Fourniret does not rule out the fact that his “mind has become compartmentalized”.

Selim Fourniret is questioned about the arrest of his father in 2003 and the confessions of his mother in 2004.

The day Michel Fourniret was arrested, Monique Olivier went to pick up her son from school. “On the way back she tells me ‘dad isn’t here, he’s gone’. I don’t ask any questions, I say to myself ‘that’s good, cool’. When we arrived in front of the house there were police vehicles, I don’t ask questions. Monique was anxious and stressed.”

For a year, Selim Fourniret lived with Monique Olivier as the latter was interviewed 120 times by investigators. He claims to have suspected nothing at the time about his mother’s involvement in Michel Fourniret’s crimes.

“All I know is that one day she went to a summons, she didn’t come back, I was left alone at home. My uncle came to get me and he explained to me “, he details of this day in 2004 when Monique Olivier made a confession.

“I saw her as a mother, I did not see her as an accomplice, as an aide to Michel Fourniret (…) I was disgusted by the face of this woman, for me she was a mother.”

If Selim Fourniret says he had no “affect” for his father during his childhood, he describes a peaceful relationship with his mother Monique Olivier.

“We were close,” she said. “For me it was mom, a child loves his mom. She was loving, she helped me.”

He describes a relationship that was all the closer because it excluded Michel Fourniret. “If we were laughing (with my mother, editor’s note), we stopped because Michel is coming.”

Asked about his relationship with his father Michel Fourniret, Selim Fourniret describes an “authoritarian” father.

“Michel Fourniret was a father who was not close to me,” says the young man.

He speaks of a father with “harsh words”, an “unloving” father. “He didn’t play with me. But for me, at the time, he was dad.”

During his childhood, he says he “had no affection for him”. “It’s not that I was afraid of him, but I respected him as a father figure,” continues Selim Fourniret.

The president of the Assize Court gives the floor to Selim Fourniret for an opening statement. “I hope to provide answers that will help you,” says the young man straight away.

“I ask Monique Olivier to speak, to free herself from a weight, and to allow families to mourn,” he continues.

The president of the Assize Court questions him about his presence today, even though Selim Fourniret had provided a medical certificate so as not to appear before the court during his hearing originally scheduled for last Friday.

“I do not refuse to appear before this assize court, as a witness, I just refuse the presence of journalists,” he said.

The hearing begins. Selim Fourniret wears a blue-gray wig and probably a false beard. He introduces himself: “Selim Olivier, 35 years old, security agent, I live in Nice”.

He confirms that he was never heard during his parents’ two previous trials in 2008 and 2018.

Selim Fourniret, wearing thin glasses, speaks with his hands in the pockets of his blue down jacket, closed up to the neck.

The hearing resumes. Selim Fourniret’s testimony must begin by videoconference.

The 35-year-old man must testify from the Nice judicial court. He is in fact placed under judicial supervision and under electronic bracelet after his indictment last July for attempted rape of a minor.

The hearing is scheduled to resume at 3 p.m. Many people are currently queuing to enter the courtroom but also in the outdoor room set up to welcome the public.

For the civil parties, Selim Fourniret, who has since changed his name, is an “essential witness”. Monique Olivier used her pregnancy to attract future victims of Michel Fourniret, or of Selim when he was a child.

Above all, a former co-detainee of Monique Olivier affirmed that the latter confided to her that Selim Fourniret was present in the house where Estelle Mouzin was kidnapped.

Hello everyone and welcome to this live broadcast dedicated to the trial of Monique Olivier. Selim Fourniret, the son of Michel Fourniret and Monique Olivier, must testify this Wednesday, December 13 from 3 p.m. before the Hauts-de-Seine Assize Court. For years, he was unknowingly used for his parents’ crimes.

The man, now 35 years old, must be heard by videoconference from the south of France. He was due to testify last Friday but had sent a medical certificate to the court.

>> Find our full article here.