American Marconi Wireless News - French justice minister refuses to resign over girl killing case

The body of the girl, named as Lyhanna, was found last week after she went missing on May 29 near the southwestern town of Fleurance.

Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin apologised on Friday for what he called a "huge failure" in the handling of previous accusations against the suspect.

The 41-year-old accused, the father of a school friend of the victim, had twice before been formally accused of raping a child.

One legal complaint was filed in August last year, but the investigation stalled and police had not yet questioned him by the time Lyhanna went missing nine months later.

Darmanin said he had ordered prosecutors to re-examine the 70,000 legal complaints under review across France for alleged crimes against children.

"The question of my remaining (in government) would arise only if I were not taking responsibility," he told a news conference, responding to a journalist's question.

"Is the Lyhanna case a one-off failure?" he asked. "Or is it that, in a more systemic way, there are many more cases like this?

"I will tell the whole truth without hiding anything from the French people."

In a letter to Darmanin, the head of one magistrates' union, Ludovic Friat, said France's judicial professionals could not respond to all requests from the ministry with "four times less prosecutors than the European average".

Only seven percent of complaints for sexual assault of a minor in France result in a conviction, according to CIIVISE, an independent commission.

The girl's killing has ignited a wider call for the tougher handling of all allegations of sexual abuse, whether against children or women.

Parliament speaker Yael Braun-Pivet urged the government to fast track the examination of a bill to battle all types of "sexist and sexual abuse".

The law is based on 140 recommendations from women's rights groups, including suggestions to improve training for police and judges to deal with cases.

burs-ah/sw/tw

F.Bennett--AMWN