"This is a terrible day for us,"
"It's incredible to hear this from a justice system of which we are the victims,"
"I don't know how it's going to work in future for the 'cold case' unit, but if it's to get results like this one, I wish them the best of luck,"
"A certain number of cases... will not be able to be pursued,"
France's Court of Cassation ruled that Yves Chatain cannot be tried for the 1986 murder of Marie-Therese Bonfanti because the statute of limitations has expired following his 2022 confession. The court rejected prosecutor Remy Heitz's plea for a more flexible interpretation to protect prosecutions of historic unsolved cases. Heitz warned that seven of 22 cases handled by a specialised cold-case unit could be affected. Bonfanti disappeared in May 1986 and partial remains were discovered only after Chatain's confession. The ruling prevents prosecution of Chatain, and the victim's family is considering an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.
Read at The Local France
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]