Fourniret Trial: Monique Olivier would like her husband to speak

10 avril 2008

"Monique Olivier "aimerait bien" que son mari parle* "Monique Olivier, épouse et complice présumée de Michel Fourniret, jugé devant la cour d'assises des Ardennes pour sept homicides aggravés, a déclaré jeudi qu'elle "aimerait bien" que son mari parle pour que les faits soient plus "clairs". "J'aimerais bien qu'il parle. Ca serait plus clair. Pour les familles, ça serait plus humain", a répondu Monique Olivier à Me Didier Seban, un avocat des parties civiles, qui l'interrogeait sur le mutisme de son mari depuis le début du procès. "Il raconte mieux que moi. Il a plus de mémoire que moi. J'aimerais bien qu'il prenne la parole", a-t-elle ajouté au deuxième jour d'audience consacré à l'examen des faits concernant le meurtre de Jeanne-Marie Desramault, une étudiante de 21 ans, disparue à Charleville-Mézières en 1989."

Monique Olivier, "would like very much," for her husband to speak. Monique Olivier, wife and alleged accomplice of Michel Fourniret, who is on trial before the Ardennes Court of Assizes for seven murders, declared on Thursday that she, "would like very much," for her husband to speak so that the facts were, "clearer." "I would like very much for him to speak. Things would be clearer. For the families, that would be more human," Monique Olivier replied to Me Didier Seban, a lawyer for the civil parties, who was questioning her about her husband's mutism since the start of the trial. "He tells it better than I do. He has a better memory than me. I would like very much for him to take the floor," she added on the second of hearings dedicated to examining the facts concerning the murder of Jeanne-Marie Desramault, a student, aged 21, who disappeared in Charleville-Mézièresin 1989.

"Son corps avait été retrouvé en juillet 2004 lors de fouilles au château du Sautou à Donchery (Ardennes), l'ancienne propriété du couple. Dès l'ouverture du procès le 27 mars, Michel Fourniret avait brandi un écriteau: "Sans huis clos, bouche cousue".

Her body had been found in July 2004, during searches at the Chateau du Sautou in Donchery (Ardenns), a former property of the couple. Since the start of the trial on March 27th, Michel Fourniret had brandished a written sign: "Without the proceedings being held in camera, lips sewn."

"En trois semaines de procès et en dehors de quelques laconiques "je reconnais les faits", il a néanmoins rompu sa résolution de participation passive au procès à trois reprises. Lundi, il avait pris spontanément la parole pour défendre Monique Olivier mise en difficulté sur son implication dans le meurtre de Fabienne Leroy, une étudiante de 20 ans tuée par balle dans la Marne en 1988. Le même jour, il avait perdu son sang-froid lors de deux vifs échanges avec Me Seban qui avait souligné deux erreurs du principal accusé, qui avait répondu en confondant deux victimes. Depuis, il a systématiquement opposé un silence haineux aux questions de l'avocat. "Monique Olivier commence à se lâcher. Pas sur les faits, mais sur Michel Fourniret (...) L'attitude de son mari peut contribuer à faire lâcher Monique Olivier", a estimé Me Seban à la suspension d'audience de la mi-journée. (AFP)"

In three weeks of the trial and apart from a few laconic, "I acknowledge the facts," he has, nonetheless, broken his resolution of passive participation in the trial on three occasions. On Monday, he spontaneously took the floor to defend Monique Olivier, who was placed in difficulty by her implication in the murder of Fabienne Leroy, a 20 year-old student who was shot in Marne in 1988. On the same day, he had lost his cool during the two lively exchanges with Me Seban, who had stressed two errors for the principal accused, who had responded, confusing two victims. Since then he has systematically opposed the lawyer's questions with a hateful silence. "Monique Olivier started to let herself go. Not about the facts, but about Michel Fourniret (....) Her husband's attitude could contribute to allowing Monique Olivier to open up," Me Seban suggested, at the end of the half-day hearing. (AFP)

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