Children not so lying? Twenty years later, the Outreau affair returns to the media scene with the docu-series broadcast on Tuesday January 17 and 24 on France 2. In parallel with this saga, a book has just been released Outreau, the story of a disaster*which retraces this legal fiasco, but also “of society as a whole”, specifies its author, Gilles Antonowicz.
This commune of Pas-de-Calais, definitively anchored in media history in the early 2000s, there are twelve child victims of sexual assault, four convicted adults and thirteen acquitted persons, twelve of whom had been in pre-trial detention. So why this new book? This time, the file is dissected in a meticulous way thanks to the 30,000 pages of procedures received mysteriously by Gilles Antonowicz.
The lawyer and historian draws a fascinating account and analysis where we discover the underside of this ruthless and complex gear. Where the truth of one day is no longer that of the next day. Where an acquitted couple is sentenced, a few years later, for child abuse. 20 minutes asked Gilles Antonewicz.
What is the link between the France 2 documentary series “L’Affaire d’Outreau” and your book?
I only collaborated as an adviser to the series of France 2. It was a question of checking that there was no factual error. In fact, I have more freedom in 300 pages to go into all the intricacies of this file while the TV series must summarize its story around five characters.
What is your objective ?
I tried to approach the subject in a detached way. I am trying to understand why Judge Burgaud and the judiciary could have been so wrong. I think this book helps to find some explanations. This case is too quickly summed up as a miscarriage of justice, but it is false. Those who were to be condemned have been. The problem is the abuse of pre-trial detention. Alas, this failing still exists. Every year, justice compensates around 500 people who have been acquitted or released. And it costs 10 million to the state budget.
Looking back, what does this case tell us?
Pornographic tapes are at the heart of the causes of this disaster. They connect everyone and explain the speeches made by the children. They did not invent anything, they sometimes tell what they saw in these films, in particular the scenes of zoophilia. The main defendant, Myriam Badaoui, sums it up very well from her first hearing: “Watching porn tapes every day, it drives you crazy! » When you are between 2 and 8 years old and you bathe in it on a daily basis, it is a psychic rape that you experience.
And for you, this problem remains relevant…
In France, the turnover of the pornographic industry is 8 billion, as much as the total justice budget. And a recent Senate report shows that the average age of first viewing is 9 years old. Yes, this is a current issue.
Could this fiasco have been avoided?
Fabrice Burgaud was certainly clumsy, but he was unlucky. New testimonies were constantly piling up and the judicial investigation was to follow. This fiasco cannot be reduced solely to the errors of Judge Burgaud. Everyone was bad. The lawyers at the beginning, the magistrates, the social workers who played the investigators, the hospital doctors who never moved, the children’s judge with absent subscribers, but also the journalists who went so far as to invent made in Ostend, Belgium. However, the name of Ostend was never mentioned in the judicial investigation.
Do you have the impression of a complex file?
It is complex in its construction but it is not that complicated. It could have been limited to what was happening on the 5th floor of this building in Outreau. But the false testimonies of some, corroborated by others, caused a telescoping of different files that had nothing to do with the main case. With hindsight, however, some elements seem obvious. Daniel Legrand, for example, who lived in his car. How to imagine that he had enriched himself by selling porn cassettes? The case also got carried away with the invented story of the murder of a little girl. And then everyone loses their minds.
*22.90 euros, 329 pages, Editions Max Milo.