Fourniret Trial: the facts, but no explanation.

http://www.kidnapping.be/fourniret/index.html

The families of Michel Fourniret's victims have attended the trial in Charleville-Mézières, talking about their children and hoping for some kind of explanation about why Michel Fourniret did what he did. Fourniret has remained adamant that he will not speak at a public trial; he wanted the proceedings to be in camera. So, "lips sealed." Is he worried that he may be attacked? Monique Olivier appears to be wearing a protective vest over her clothing. I am not sure if Fourniret is wearing similar protective gear, but Olivier's vest would imply tight security.

The couple sit behind bullet-proof glass. I recall a few years ago when a German woman took a gun into a courtroom and shot the man who had raped and murdered her daughter and I wonder what I would feel like, as perhaps the mother of Elisabeth Brichet. I couldn't guarantee that were a gun available to me that I would not use it on a vile monster who had raped and murdered my young daughter.

Enfants Kidnappés continues the reporting of the trial today. There are several articles published today, which I shall post separately.

Le couple Fourniret a reconnu les faits mais sans s'expliquer vraiment*

En six semaines de procès, Michel Fourniret a reconnu les sept homicides pour lesquels il est jugé devant les assises des Ardennes, mais sans jamais consentir à s'expliquer, alors que son épouse et complice présumée Monique Olivier a fait des révélations sur leur intimité.

The Fourniret couple have admitted the facts but without really explaining.

In six weeks of the trial, Michel Fourniret has admitted the seven murders for which he is on trial before the Ardennes Assizes, but without ever agreeing to explain, while his wife and alleged accomplice Monique Olivier has made disclosures about their privacy.

Pendant les 21 jours d'audience consacrés à l'examen des faits, le tueur en série présumé est resté fidèle à sa résolution formulée dès l'ouverture du procès, le 27 mars: "Sans huis clos, bouche cousue". Il s'est contenté de reconnaître laconiquement avoir enlevé, violé puis tué entre 1987 et 2001 sept adolescentes ou jeunes femmes en France et en Belgique. Dans deux affaires où Monique Olivier n'est pas poursuivie, il a nié les viols, avant d'en reconnaître un à demi-mots. Essayant tour à tour de l'amadouer ou de l'interpeller vigoureusement, les tentatives des avocats des parties civiles pour le faire parler ont presque invariablement tourné court. L'accusé n'a pas plus réagi lorsque les familles des victimes l'ont exhorté à s'expliquer. La cour et les familles ont néanmois été confrontées à la mécanique criminelle de Michel Fourniret avec la diffusion - exceptionnelle dans un procès d'assises - d'aveux de l'accusé filmés en 2004 par la police belge.

During the 21 days of the hearing dedicated to the examination of the facts, the alleged serial killer has remained faithful to the resolution he made at the opening of the trial on March 27th: "Without the proceedings being held in camera, mouth sealed." He has contented himself with laconically acknowledging having abducted, raped then killed, seven teenagers and young women in France and Belgium between 1987 and 2001. In two cases where Monique Olivier is not charged, he denied the rapes, before grudgingly acknowledging one of them. Trying time and again to coax him or to question him vigorously, the attempts by the lawyers for the civil parties to make him speak have nearly always stopped short. Neither did the accused respond when the victims' families appealed to him to explain himself. The court and the families have, nonetheless, been confronted by the criminal machinations of Michel Fourniret with the showing - exceptional in an assizes trial - of the confessions of the accused, filmed in Belgium in 2004.

Elles ont pu ainsi voir et entendre l'accusé détailler froidement comment il avait étranglé une adolescente belge de 12 ans en 1989 ou forcé une lycéenne ardennaise de 18 ans à lui "demander de lui faire l'amour" avant de la tuer en 2000. Dans la même vidéo, il expliquait sa quête obsessionnelle de la virginité, un "symbole" selon lui. C'est d'ailleurs lorsque les débats ont porté sur sa vie sexuelle que Michel Fourniret a dérogé le plus souvent à son voeu de silence. Ainsi lors de la mise en évidence en cours d'audience d'un possible viol post-mortem sur une adolescente de 13 ans enlevée et tuée près de Nantes en 1990, l'accusé, visiblement soucieux, a renouvelé par l'intermédiaire de ses avocats sa demande de huis clos.

They were thus able to see and to hear the accused coldly detailing how he had strangled a 12 year-old Belgian teenager in 1989 or forced an 18 year-old Ardennes schoolgirl to, "ask him to make love," before killing her in 2000. In the same video, he explained his obsessive quest for virginity, a, "symbol," according to him. It is during the debates about his sex life that Michel Fourniret has departed most often from his vow of silence. Thus during the evidence given in the course of a hearing about a possible rape post-mortem on a 13 year-old teenager, abducted and killed near Nantes in 1990, the accused, visibly worried, renewed through the intermediary of his lawyers, his demand for the proceedings to be held in camera.

De la même façon, il est sorti brièvement de son silence, le dernier jour de l'examen des faits, pour réagir à la confession de son épouse qui venait de révéler qu'ils avaient rejoué des scènes de crimes pendant leurs relations sexuelles. "J'ai quand même observé que Monique Olivier a relaté les choses avec un vocabulaire (...) qui me fait gerber", a-t-il déclaré devant la cour dans une allusion aux paroles crues de sa femme. Tout au long du procès, Monique Olivier, co-accusée d'un meurtre et renvoyée pour complicité dans quatre autres, a reconnu avoir été la complice de son mari mais a nié avoir étouffé avec lui une étudiante de 21 ans à leur domicile en 1989. Dans les autres affaires, l'ancienne garde-malade a systématiquement minimisé sa participation. Vivement interpellée par les avocats des familles sur son absence de réaction pour sauver les victimes, elle a affirmé avoir agi par soumission à son mari qui lui inspirait une "peur permanente". "Je regrette. Ma place est en prison", n'a-t-elle cessé de répéter, sans jamais un regard pour les familles.

In the same way, he briefly came out of his silence, on the last day of the examination of the facts, to respond to his wife's confession in which she had just revealed that he had replayed the scenes of his crimes during their sexual relations. "I have even noted that Monique Olivier has related these things with a vocabulary (...) that makes me want to throw up," he stated before the court, alluding to the crude words of his wife. Throughout the trial, Monique Olivier, co-accused in one murder and charged with complicity in four others, has admitted having been her husband's accomplice but has denied having suffocated a 21 year-old student with him at their home in 1989. In the other cases, the former nurse has systematically minimised her participation. Keenly questioned by the lawyers for the families about her lack of reaction to save the victims, she stated that she acted by submitting to her husband who inspired in her a, "lasting fear." "I regret. My place is in prison," she did not stop repeating, without ever any regard for the families.

Michel Fourniret, 66 ans, est père de quatre enfants de deux premiers mariages. Monique Olivier, 59 ans, a eu deux garçons d'une première union. En 1998, le couple a donné naissance à un fils. Selon les experts, les deux accusés ne souffrent d'aucune pathologie mentale et sont d'une intelligence normale.

A partir de lundi, la cour va se pencher sur leur personnalité et le fonctionnement du couple. Des psychiatres et des membres des familles des deux accusés sont convoqués devant la cour.

Michel Fourniret, aged 66, is father to four children from two former marriages. Monique Olivier, aged 59, has two boys from a former marriage. In 1998, the couple's son was born. According to the experts, the two accused are not suffering from any mental illness and are of normal intelligence.

From Monday, the court will focus on the personality and the functioning of the couple. Psychiatrists and members of the families of the two accused are to appear before the court.