Enfants Kidnappés 27/05/08 - Fourniret wants to stay in the spotlight.

(The families of the victims.)

The Fourniret trial enters its final phase, with the summing up by the defence and the jury expected to retire to reach a verdict on Wednesday.

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

Les familles des victimes*

Les familles des sept jeunes filles que Michel Fourniret a reconnu avoir tuées entre 1987 et 2001, ont formé un groupe uni et solidaire pendant les deux mois de procès devant les assises des Ardennes pour demander la vérité et surmonter les moments éprouvants du procès. "Pendant ces huit semaines terribles, vous avez fait preuve d'une force mentale exceptionnelle", a déclaré aux familles l'avocat général Francis Nachbar, en préambule de son réquisitoire, en leur souhaitant de trouver "l'apaisement" après ce "moment terrifiant".

The victims' families.

The families of the seven young girls whom Michel Fourniret admitted having killed between 1987 and 2001, formed a united and supportive group during the two months of the trial before the Ardennes Assizes to seek the truth and to cope with the difficult moments of the trial. "During these eight terrible weeks, you have shown exceptional mental strength," the Attorney General, Francis Nachbar, said to the families in the introduction to his arraignment, wishing for them to find, "calmness," after this, "terrifying time."

Soutenues par des psychologues et des responsables d'association d'aide aux victimes, elles ont toujours fait bloc pour supporter l'éprouvante lecture de l'acte d'accusation ou regarder Fourniret détailler froidement une mise à mort dans des aveux filmés en 2004 et diffusés à l'audience. Dès l'ouverture du procès le 27 mars, des membres des familles avaient expliqué devant des journalistes avoir passé symboliquement un "pacte de solidarité" en réponse au "pacte criminel" conclu par Michel Fourniret et son épouse Monique Olivier.

Supported by psychologists and representatives of the Victims' aid association, they have always formed a bloc to support the difficult reading of the indictment or to watch Fourniret coldly detailing a killing in his confessions, filmed in 2004 and screened at the hearing. From the opening of the trial on March 27th, the family members had explained to the journalists that they had symbolically agreed a, "pact of solidarity," in response to the, "criminal pact," signed by Michel Fourniret and his wife Monique Olivier.

Comme un rituel au début de l'examen de chaque dossier, les parents sont venus, à l'invitation du président de la cour Gilles Latapie, évoquer à la barre le souvenir des victimes. Inhabituelle lors d'un procès d'assises, cette démarche a donné lieu à des moments de forte émotion, marqués par d'intenses face-à-face avec les deux accusés. "Vous êtes une mère, mais vous n'êtes pas une maman!", a ainsi crié à l'adresse de Monique Olivier la mère d'Isabelle Laville, tuée en 1987.

Like a ritual, at the start of the consideration of each case, the parents came, at the invitation of the president of the court, Gilles Latapie, to bring to the witness box, memories of the victims. Unusual for an assizes trial, this approach resulted in moments of strong emotion, marked by intense face-to-face with the two accused. "You are a mother, but you are not a mum!" was shouted at Monique Olivier by the mother of Isabelle Laville, killed in 1987.

De son côté, le père de Céline Saison, assassinée en 2000, a imposé à l'accusé de le regarder dans les yeux, lui assénant: "J'ai tellement de haine que si la vie me le permet, j'irai cracher sur votre tombe". "Merci de vous être tu, merci de ne pas avoir ajouté, à la cruauté de vos actes, la cruauté de vos paroles", l'a aussi remercié ironiquement Brice Longhini, le beau-père de Mananya Thumpong, tuée en 2001, dans une allusion au "Sans huis clos, bouche cousue" formulé par Fourniret.

On his part, the father of Céline Saison, killed in 2000, forced the accused to look him in the eyes, hurling at him, "I have such hatred that if life permits, I will spit on your grave." "Thank you for being you, thank you for not having added to the cruelty of your actions the cruelty of your words," Brice Longhini, step-father of Mananya Thumpong, killed in 2001, also ironically thanked him, alluding to, "Without huis clos, mouth sealed," formulated by Fourniret.

Les parents d'Isabelle et de Fabienne, tuée en 1988, ont refusé de recevoir de l'accusé des explications écrites sur les derniers instants de leurs filles. La famille de Natacha Danais, retrouvée morte en 1990, a opposé une fin de non-recevoir aux deux heures de huis clos demandées par Fourniret, après la mise en évidence d'un possible viol post-mortem sur l'adolescente. C'est aussi "à l'unanimité" qu'elles ont décidé de déserter momentanément les bancs des parties civiles le 17 mai pour protester contre la volte-face de l'accusé, qui venait de revenir sur sa parole de s'exprimer sur les faits.

Au premier jour des plaidoiries des parties civiles, les membres des familles se sont tous présentés une rose blanche à la main en hommage aux jeunes filles disparues.

The parents of Isabelle and Fabienne, killed in 1988, refused to receive from the accused written explanations about their daughters' last moments. The family of Natacha Danais, found dead in 1990, rejected pleas by Fourniret for a two hour session in camera, after the disclosure of a possible post-mortem rape on the teenager. It was also, "unanimous," when they decided to momentarily leave the benches for the civil parties on May 17th to protest against the about-face of the accused, who had just gone back on his promise to explain the facts.

On the first day of the oral arguments for the civil parties, the family members all carried a white rose in honour of the missing young girls.

Fourniret veut garder la vedette jusqu'à la fin.*

Michel Fourniret a voulu garder la vedette jusqu'au dernier jour de son procès qui devait vraisemblablement se conclure mercredi par une condamnation à la prison à vie, dont son avocat a déjà indiqué qu'il ne ferait pas appel. Mardi, la cour d'assises des Ardennes, qui juge les époux Fourniret depuis le 27 mars pour une série de sept meurtres aggravés de jeunes filles, s'est retirée pour délibérer peu après 15H00, à la suite d'un nouveau coup d'éclat du principal accusé.

Fourniret wants to keep the spotlight right to the end.

Michel Fourniret has wanted to keep the spotlight until the last day of his trial, which will most likely conclude on Wednesday with a sentence of life imprisonment, on which his lawyer has already indicated, he will not appeal. On Tuesday, the Ardennes court of assizes, which has been trying the Fourniret couple since March 27th for a series of seven aggravated murders of young girls, retired to deliberate, a little after 3pm, following a new outburst by the principal accused.

Invité à s'exprimer en dernier, Michel Fourniret, 66 ans, s'est emparé d'un texte préparé à l'avance, rédigé pour partie en alexandrins, et dans une lecture d'une quinzaine de minutes a distribué ses bons et mauvais points aux acteurs du procès. Après avoir salué "plusieurs voix" sur les bancs des parties civiles, d'où parfois, selon lui, "a jailli l'étincelle", Michel Fourniret a enchaîné à l'adresse de l'avocat général Francis Nachbar: "il n'en fut pas de même, c'est sans surprise hélas, de la part d'un roquet". Il s'est en pris plusieurs fois au "petit Francis" - qui l'avait traité de "petit Fourniret" -, avant de réserver ses dernières piques à son épouse Monique Olivier, 59 ans, "une pauvre bonne femme incapable de nuire à quiconque individuellement"

Invited to speak last, Michel Fourniret, aged 66, grasped a pre-prepared text, composed partly in Alexandrine verse, and in a fifteen minute reading, he handed out his good and bad points to the actors in the trial. After having saluted, "several voices," on the civil parties' benches, from where, according to him, sometimes, "sparks flew," Michel Fourniret went on to address the Attorney General Francis Nachbar: "he has not been up to it, not surprising alas, for a yappy little dog." Several times he attacked, "little Francis" - who had treated him as, "little Fourniret" - before reserving his final cutting remarks for his wife Monique Olivier, aged 59, "a poor old woman, incapable of personally harming anyone."

Francis Nachbar avait requis jeudi les peines les plus lourdes du code pénal contre le couple, à savoir la réclusion criminelle à perpétuité assortie de mesures de sûreté différenciées pour l'un et l'autre en fonction de la date des crimes reprochés. Il les avait qualifiés de "fêlés" et de "criminels inhumains", des termes sur lesquels il a tenu à s'expliquer publiquement mardi après la clôture des débats, dans une démarche peu commune. "C'est le dossier qui est nauséabond (...), pas les mots utilisés", a-t-il justifié devant des dizaines de journalistes.

On Thursday Francis Nachbar had requested the penal code's heaviest sentences against the couple, namely life sentence with different minimum terms for each, as a ratio of the crimes committed. He had described them as, "bonkers," and as, "inhuman criminals," terms on which he committed himself to speak publicly on Tuesday after the closing debates, in an unusual approach, "It is the case that is nauseating (....), not the words used," he justifed himself before dozens of journalists.

La cour, qui devrait rendre son verdict mercredi après-midi, s'est exceptionnellement retirée pour délibérer, non au tribunal, mais dans une caserne de CRS à Charleville-Mézières, afin de répondre à un total de 75 questions. Dans la dernière plaidoirie, Me Pierre Blocquaux, avocat de Michel Fourniret, s'exprimant au nom d'une défense réduite au silence par l'accusé depuis le début du procès, a annoncé que son client ne ferait pas appel de la condamnation à venir et a pris le contre-pied de M. Nachbar en appelant à le juger comme un homme. Fourniret "appartient à notre humanité, hélas, quel que soit le caractère horrible des actes qu'il a pu commettre", a affirmé l'avocat, après avoir confié "l'épreuve" vécue lors de "ces deux mois épouvantables (...) au fond de l'horreur". Me Blocquaux a comparé la vie de l'accusé à "un champ de ruines" avec, outre les jeunes femmes ou adolescentes tuées, de multiples victimes "collatérales", telles une des filles de Fourniret qui s'est suicidée en 2006 "parce qu'elle ne supportait plus le poids de toutes ces affaires".

The court, which may deliver its verdict on Wednesday afternoon, unusually reitred to deliberate, not in the courthouse, but in the CRS barracks in Charleville-Mézières, in order to respond to a total of 75 questions. In the final oral arguments, Me Pierre Blocquaux, Michel Fourniret's lawyer, speaking on behalf of a defence reduced to silence by the accused since the start of the trial, announced that his client would not appeal the sentence to come and took the opposite stance to M. Nachbar in calling for him to be judged as a man. Fourniret, "belongs to the human race, alas, whatever the horrible character of the acts he may have committed," stated the lawyer, after having shared the, "test," lived through, "these two awful months (...) in the depths of the horror." Me Blocquaux compared the life of the accused to, "a field of ruins," with, as well as young girls and teenagers killed, many, "colateral," victims, such as one of Fourniret's daughters who committed suicide in 2006, "because she could no longer bear the weight of all these cases."

Il a de nouveau évoqué les "occasions manquées" d'arrêter un homme déjà condamné par le passé pour des agressions sexuelles, citant entre autres le classement sans suite par le parquet d'Auxerre de la plainte du père de la première victime, Isabelle Laville, tuée fin 1987 dans l'Yonne. Au total Fourniret doit répondre de sept meurtres de jeunes filles précédés de viol ou tentative, commis en France et en Belgique entre 1987 et 2001. Monique Olivier est accusée d'être co-auteure d'un des meurtres et complice de trois autres.

"Je regrette tout ce que j'ai fait. C'est tout", a simplement déclaré cette dernière mardi.

He (Fourniret's lawyer) again referred to the, "missed opportunities," to stop a man, already sentenced in the past for sexual assaults, citing amongst others the Auxerre prosecutor's classifying as non-action, the report from the father of the first victim, Isabelle Laville, killed at the end of 1987 in Yonne. In total Fourniret must answer for seven murders of young girls preceeded by rape or attempted rape, committed in France and Belgium between 1987 and 2001. Monique Olivier is accused of being co-perpetrator of one murder and complicity in three others.

"I regret everything that I have done. That is all," the latter stated simply on Tuesday.

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

27/05/08

SOS Madeleine McCann 27/05/08: four of the McCanns' friends refuse to return to Praia da Luz for the reconstruction.

SOS Maddie 27/05/08

Maddie : Quatre amis des McCann ont refusé la reconstitution de la nuit du crime

La PJ va maintenant discuter avec le Ministère Public pour savoir si celui-ci avance avec l'accusation ou si la reconstitution reste indispensable.

Quatre des amis qui avaient accompagné Gerry et Kate McCann pendant leurs vacances au Portugal ont refusé de retourner à Praia da Luz pour y participer à la reconstitution des événements liés à la disparition de Madeleine, une diligence prévue pour jeudi et vendredi prochains et que la Police Judiciaire (PJ) considérait "extrêmement importante" pour consolider l’enquête.

Maddie: Four of the McCanns' friends have refused the reconstruction of the night of the crime. The PJ are now going to discuss with the Public Ministry to find out if they will proceed with the prosecution or if the reconstruction is still necessary. Four friends who had accompanied Gerry and Kate McCann during thier holiday in Portugal have refused to return to Praia da Luz to participate in the reconstruction of the events linked to Madeleine's disappearance, an action planned for next Thursday or Friday and which the PJ would consdier, "extremely important," to consolidate the enquiry.

L’information, confirmée aujourd’hui par une note du cabinet du Procureur Générale de la République (PGR), avance encore que, faute de leur présence, la diligence serait pure et simplement annulée.

L’annonce du refus de coopération des quatre britanniques, et la conséquente annulation de la reconstitution, n’a pas surpris les enquêteurs car ils avaient déjà reçu, il y a plus d’une semaine, l’information de leurs collègues au Royaume-Uni de qu’au moins deux des "Tapas sept", le couple Jane Tanner et Russell O’Brien, n’allaient pas revenir.

The information, confirmed today by a note from the office of the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR) further states that, without their presence, the action would purely and simply be cancelled. The announcement of the refusal to cooperate by the four British people, and the consequent cancellation of the reconstruction, has not surprised the investigators because they had already received, over a week ago, the information from their colleagues in the United Kingdom that at least two of the, "Tapas seven," the couple Jane Tanner and Russell O'Brien would not be going to return.

Vendredi passé, un haut responsable de la police britannique à Enderby, avait révélé que "Kate et Gerry McCann ont établie un accord avec leurs sept amis visant empêcher la réalisation de la reconstitution demande par les autorités portugaises," soulignant "qu’ils savent que cette reconstitution n’aura pas lieu si le groupe n’y est pas au complet."

Last Friday, a senior officer of the British police at Enderby, had revealed that, "Kate and Gerry have established an agreement with their seven friends to prevent the setting up of the reconstruction requested by the Portuguese authorities," stressing that, "they know that this reconstruction will not take place if the whole group is not there."

Selon le même officier, le couple McCann ne voulait pas "refuser directement et en public leur participation, sous peine de voir l’opinion publique au Royaume-Uni se retourner contre eux. "

"Si leur présence est exigé, ils iront, ils doivent y aller," avait dit Clarence Mitchell à propos de Kate et Gerry McCann soulignant que le couple avait toujours le statut d’arguidos, ce que n’était pas le cas des amis.

According to the same police officer, the McCann couple would not want to, "directly and publicly refuse their participation, at the risk of seeing public opinion in the United Kingdom turn against them."

"If their presence is necessary, they must go," Clarence Mitchell said about Kate and Gerry McCann, stressing that the couple still had arguido status, which was not the case with the friends.

Les sept amis - Jane Tanner et Russell O’Brien, Matthew et Rachael Oldfield, David et Fiona Payne, et la mère de celle-ci, Diane Webster – ont été interrogés comme témoins au Portugal et au Royaume-Uni affirmant vouloir aider l’enquête à la disparition de Madeleine, une position que la PJ avait déjà remise en cause par le passé et que le refus annoncé aujourd’hui semble confirmer.

The seven friends - Jane Tanner and Russell O'Brien, Matthew and Rachael Oldfield, David and Fiona Payne, and her mother Diane Webster - were questioned as witnesses in Portugal and in the United Kingdom, stating being willing to help the enquiry into Madeleine's disappearance, a position which the PJ had already questioned in the past and which their refusal announced today seems to confirm.

**********Transcript ends**********

On Friday May 2nd, Enfants Kidnappés reported that a reconstruction had already taken place last year in October, without the principal, "players," in the case.

http://www.kidnapping.be/maddie/maddie.html

"Une reconstitution a déjà été faite.

C'est dans un certain silence, voire une certaine indifférence qu'une première reconstitution a déjà été faite en octobre 2007. Une reconstitution, en langage criminel, signifie rassembler tous les éléments et intervenants d'une même affaire et les replacer dans les circonstances du crime ou du délit. Permettant d'avoir une vue complète sur les évènements. Ce qui n'est pas possible sur papier ou bien des éléments peuvent ne pas paraître aussi évident. Ainsi, une reconstitution permet de révéler bien des éléments. Or une première reconstitution a déjà été faite en octobre dernier avec tous les éléments et figurants présent à Praia de Luz le 03 mai entre 18h30 et 22h40. Seuls, les intervenants principaux n'étaient pas présents. C'était voulu! En effet, maintenant la PJ dispose d'une vue précise de ce qui s'est passé ou plutôt de "qui faisait quoi" et surtout "où et à quel moment" précis

A reconstruction has already been done.

It was in a certain silence, even a certain indifference that the first reconstruction was done in October 2007. A reconstruction, in criminal language, means bringing back together all the elements and players in the case and putting them back into the circumstances of the crime or offence, allowing a complete view of the events. This is not possible on paper, where many of the details would not be clear enough. Thus a reconstruction allows the details to be revealed more clearly. Now, a first reconstruction has already been done last October with all the elements and the people present in Praia da Luz on May 3rd between 18.30 and 22.40. Only the principal players were not present. It was valuable. In fact, now the PJ has a clear view of what happened or rather of, "who did what," and above all, "where and at what time," precisely."

"Praia da Luz one year in the past."

Perhaps the Public Prosecutor will be willing to allow the PJ to proceed with the case based on what was discovered during this previous reconstruction in October 2007. When the PJ state that the planned reconstruction with the principal, "players," Kate and Gerry and friends, would allow them to compare the points of view of witnesses and suspect, perhaps this is where the comparison would be made, between details gleaned from witnesses in the previous re-enactment, and that including the Tapas Nine.

So, what now? The McCanns are still official suspects in the enquiry and the PJ consider the reconstruction to be necessary. Four of those who were present on the evening of Madeleine's disappearance are unable to attend and participate in a reconstruction. You'd think the McCanns, who vowed to, "leave no stone unturned," in the search for their child, would be begging their friends to participate in anything which might have the remotest chance of helping to discover what had happened to that child. I don't think I'd be ready to accept, "Sorry, I can't make it," if this had been my child.

The McCanns were made arguidos and departed pretty sharpish on the next available plane, promising to returns when requested to do so by the PJ, the Tapas seven have stated that they would be willing to help in any way, yet none of them look as though they making any great shakes to get their asses over there to the Algarve. Public opinion turning against the McCanns? That seems to have happened quite some time ago and, in my opinion, the only way to restore some of that would be to book a flight to Portugal and to do their best to persuade their friends to accompany them. What could possibly be more important than participating in something which may help to resolve the disappearance of a very young child, however useless they might think it is?

Enfants Kidnappés 26/05/08 - Fourniret trial: oral arguments for the defence and verdict expected this week.

(Francis Nachbar)

Enfants Kidnappés reports that the defence for Michel Fourniret and Monique Oliver will sum up this week and a verdict can be expected on Wednesday or Thursday.

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

Place aux plaidoiries de la défense.*

Après le sévère réquisitoire de l'avocat général, les avocats de la défense s'expriment aujourd'hui et demain. Ils devraient notamment tenter de minimiser la culpabilité de Monique Olivier, qui se présente comme une femme soumise par la peur à l'emprise de son mari.

"Un couple assassin", un "diable à deux faces", "d'une cruauté et d'une inhumanité que jamais notre pays n'avait imaginé connaître". La semaine dernière, l'avocat général a prononcé un réquisitoire très dur. Dans lequel il accable tant Michel Fourniret que Monique Olivier, qui lui a "délivré son permis de tuer". Me Nachbar réclame ainsi la prison à perpétuité tant pour l'un que pour l'autre.

Hearing the oral arguments for the defence.

After the severe arraignment of the Attorney General, the lawyers for the defence speak today and tomorrow, they must notably try to minimise the guilt of Monique Olivier, who presents as a woman made submissive by fear to the control of her husband.

"A killer couple, " a , "devil with two faces," "of a cruelty and inhumanity that our country never imagined to know." Last week, the Attorney General presented a very hard arraignment, in which he overwhelmed Michel Fourniret as much as Monique Olivier, who had, "given him premission to kill." Me Nachbar thus called for a whole life sentence for both of them.

Un portrait que les avocats de Monique Olivier vont tenter aujourd'hui de redessiner. Non, vont-ils dire, l'accusée n'est pas une criminelle, mais une autre victime de son mari, qui l'a terrorisée et soumise à son mode de vie assassin. Les avocats de Monique Olivier vont notamment s'appuyer sur les déclarations de Fourniret, qui minimise le rôle de sa femme. Et qui la dédouane de l'accusation la plus grave, celle d'avoir participé au meurtre de Jeanne-Marie Desramault, en 1989. Monique Olivier nie ainsi avoir étouffé la jeune fille en la bâillonnant, parce que Fourniret peinait à l'étrangler.

A portrait which Monique Olivier's lawyers today are going to attempt to redraw. No, they are going to say, the accused is not a criminal, but another victim of her husband, who terrorised her and subjected her to his killer way of life. Monique Olivier's lawyers are going to notably rely on Fourniret's statements, which minimise his wife's role and which clear her of the most serious charge, that of having participated in the murder of Jeanne-Marie Desramault, in 1989. Monique Olivier thus denies having suffocated the young girl by gagging her, because Fourniret was having trouble strangling her.

Rappel du 22mai:

La réclusion criminelle à perpétuité a été requise par l'accusation contre Michel Fourniret et son épouse Monique Olivier. Le couple est jugé depuis deux mois pour sept meurtres de jeunes filles entre 1987 et 2001. L'avocat général a demandé que la peine de Michel Fourniret s'effectue sans aucune possibilité d'aménagement. Il a requis une peine de sûreté incompressible de trente ans à l'encontre de son épouse. La défense doit plaider la semaine prochaine et le verdict de la cour d'assises des Ardennes est attendu mercredi ou jeudi. Les deux accusés ont reconnu les faits à l'audience.

Fourniret, 66 ans, encourt une peine de perpétuité « incompressible » en raison du dernier des sept homicides aggravés dont il est accusé, un assassinat précédé de viol sur mineur de moins de 15 ans en l'occurrence celui de Mananya Thumpong, 13 ans, tuée en 2001 dans les Ardennes. Cette période de sûreté de trente ans a également été requise contre Monique Olivier, 59 ans l'autre tête de ce « diable à deux faces » ; elle est accusée d'un meurtre et de complicité dans plusieurs autres crimes, tous antérieurs à 1994.

Reminder about May 22nd.

A whole life sentence was requested by the prosecution for Michel Fourniret and his wife Monique Olivier. The couple have been on trial for two months for seven murders of young girls between 1987 and 2001. The Attorney General requested that Michel Fourniret's sentence is carried out with no possibility of adjustment. he requested a custodial sentence of thirty years without parole for his wife. The defence must plead next week and the verdict of the Ardennes court of Assizes is expected on Wednesday or Thursday. The two accused have admitted the facts at the hearing. Fourniret, aged 66, faces a whole life sentence, "non-adjustable," for reason of the last of the seven aggravated murders of which he is accused, murder preceded by rape of a minor under 15 years of age, in this instance that of Mananya Thumpong, aged 13, killed in 2001 in the Ardennes. This sentence of thirty years was also requested for Monique Olivier, aged 59, the other head of this, "devil with two faces." ; she is accused of one murder and of complicity in several other crimes, all before 1994.

Permis de tuer

En début de semaine, la « complémentarité criminelle » des époux a été soulignée par des experts témoignant à la barre, un psychologue estimant qu'Olivier avait « délivré son permis de tuer » à son mari. Pendant les premières plaidoiries de la défense aujourd'hui, les avocats de Monique Olivier devraient rebondir sur des propos tenus à l'audience par Fourniret, qui a clairement dédouané son épouse de toute participation dans le meurtre de Jeanne-Marie Desramault en 1989. Alors qu'elle-même a nié lors du procès, Olivier est considéré par l'accusation comme coauteure du meurtre. Pendant que son mari peinait à étrangler la jeune étudiante qui se débattait, elle l'aurait étouffée en la baillonnant. Mardi, les avocats de Fourniret, jusque-là réduits au silence par son souhait de se défendre lui-même, devraient revenir sur le cas Thumpong qui fait encourir à leur client la peine incompressible. À l'audience le 29 avril, l'accusé a reconnu l'enlèvement et le meurtre mais a nié la circonstance aggravante du viol.

Le verdict est attendu mercredi après des délibérations dans une caserne de CRS à Charleville.

Permission to kill. At the start of the week, the, "criminal complementarity," of the couple was stressed by the expert witnesses at the bar, a psychologist suggesting that Olivier had, "given her permission to kill," to her husband. Today, during the first oral arguments of the defence, Monique Olivier's lawyers will have to pick up again on Fourniret's words to the hearing, which apparently clear his wife of all aprticipation in the murder of Jeanne-Marie Desramault in 1989. While she herself has denied during the trial, Olivier is considered by the prosecution as co-perpetrator of the murder. While her husband was having trouble strangling the young student who was struggling, she would have suffocated her by gagging her. On Tuesday, Fourniret's lawyers, hitherto reduced to slience by his wish to defend himself, must go back to the Thumpong case, which incurs the sentence without parole for their client. At the hearing on April 29th, the accused admitted the abduction and murder but denied the aggravating circumstances of rape.

The verdict is expected on Wednesday after deliberation in the CRS barracks in Charleville.

SOS Madeleine McCann: British police officer accuses the McCanns of having an agreement to prevent the reconstruction.

Somewhere on the 3 Arguidos board last night, possibly from one of the wonderful Portuguese speakers, I read that Kate and Gerry were willing to go to Praia da Luz for the reconstruction of events surrounding Madeleine's disappearance on May 3rd 2007, but it all depended on the seven friends. Since those seven friends, aka, "The Tapas 7," are not arguidos they are not obliged to take part in the reconstruction. *

Duarte Levy reports on his blog, SOS Madeleine McCann, that a British police officer is accusing the McCanns and friends of having an agreement to prevent the reconstruction taking place, a case of, well, we're willing, but what's the point if they're not coming?

Officier britannique accuse les McCann d’avoir un accord pour empêcher reconstitution.

Selon un haut responsable de la police britannique à Enderby, dans le Leicestershire, "Kate et Gerry McCann ont établie un accord avec leurs sept amis visant empêcher la réalisation de la reconstitution demande par les autorités portugaises. "

"Ils savent que cette reconstitution n’aura pas lieu si le groupe n’y est pas au complet," affirme l’officier rajoutant "qu’il est évident que Kate et Gerry ne peuvent pas refuser directement et en public leur participation, sous peine de voir l’opinion publique au Royaume-Uni se retourner contre eux. "

British police officer accuses the McCanns of having an agreement to prevent the reconstruction.

According to a senior British police officer at Enderby in Leicestershire, "Kate and Gerry McCann have established an agreement with their seven friends, looking to prevent the reconstruction requested by the Portuguese authorities, from taking place."

"They know that this reconstruction will not take place if the whole group is not there," states the officer adding, "that it is obvious that Kate and Gerry cannot directly refuse in public to participate, for fear of having public opinion in the United kingdom turn against them."

"C’est pourquoi ce sont les amis qui font savoir qu’ils ne participeront pas," affirme l’officier britannique qui avait accompagné les investigations au Portugal.

Presque au même moment ou l’officier avançait ces accusations, Kate et Gerry McCann ont fait savoir aujourd’hui, via leur porte-parole, qu’ils seraient disposés à obéir à une notification des autorités portugaises afin de participer à la reconstitution mais que leurs amis continuaient à contester la diligence mettant en cause son utilité.

"That's why it's the friends who are letting it be known that they will not participate," states the British police officer who had been with the investigation in Portugal.

Almost at the same moment that the police officer was putting forward these accusations, Kate and Gerry made known, via their spokesperson, that they would be willing to obey a notification from the Portuguese authorities to participate in the reconstruction, but that their friends were still contesting the action, questioning its usefulness.

Soulignant que Kate et Gerry McCann ont toujours le statut d’arguidos, Clarence Mitchell à confirmée, en déclarations à l’agence portugaise d’information Lusa, que "si leur présence est exigé, ils iront, ils doivent y aller."

Stressing that Kate and Gerry McCann still have arguido status, Clarence Mitchell confirmed, in statements to the Lusa Portuguese Information Agency, that, "if their presence is required, they will go, they must go."

La Police Judiciaire prétend effectuer une reconstitution des mouvements que les parents et leurs amis, présents à l'occasion de la disparition de Madeleine, avaient déclarée avoir effectué. Initialement la suggestion de la PJ avait été transmise via les avocats du couple pour aboutir à des convocations individuelles car la validité de la diligence passe par la présence du groupe au complet, ce que semble de plus en plus improbable.

The PJ claim to have set up a reconstruction of the movements that the parents and their friends, who were present when Madeleine disappeared, had stated they made. Initially the PJ's suggestion was sent via the couple's lawyers as individual requests, because the value of the action depended on the presence of the whole group, which seems more and more unlikely.

"Tout dépend des amis, qui ont été invités à y aller mais, comme ils ne sont pas arguidos, ont le droit de mettre en cause l'utilité de la diligence et si elle va aider à retrouver Madeleine - et leur réponse en ce moment semble être négative", à expliqué Clarence Mitchell.

"It all depends on the friends, who are invited to go but, as they are not arguidos, they have the right to question the usefulness of the action and if it is going to help to find Madeleine - and their response at the moment seems to be negative," explained Clarence Mitchell.

Les sept amis - Jane Tanner et Russell O’Brien, Matthew et Rachael Oldfield, David et Fiona Payne, et la mère de celle-ci, Diane Webster – ont été interrogés comme témoins au Portugal et au Royaume-Uni affirmant vouloir aider l’enquête à la disparition de Madeleine, mais aujourd’hui ils auraient imposé des conditions à leur retour à Praia da Luz.

The seven friends - Jane Tanner and Russell O'Brien, Matthew and Rachael Oldfield, David and Fiona Payne and her mother Diane Webster - were questioned as witnesses in Portugal and in the United Kingdom, stating that they wanted to help the investigation into Madeleine's disappearance, but now would impose conditions on their return to Praia da Luz.

SOS Madeleine McCann 23/05/08

Selon Clarence Mitchell, vu la proximité de la deuxième date proposée par les autorités portugaises, et le manque de réponse aux exigences du groupe, "il est très improbable que la reconstitution puisse avoir lieu."

La principale raison invoquée par les sept britanniques pour mettre en cause l’initiative des autorités portugaises serait, selon Clarence Mitchell, lié au fait que "la police aurait rejeté, l’année passée, une proposition du programme Crimewatch de la BBC" pour effectuer une reconstitution.

According to Clarence Mitchell, given the proximity of the second date proposed by the Portuguese authorities and the lack of response to requests from the group, “it is highly improbable that the reconstruction could take place.”

The main reason given by the seven British people for questioning the initiative of the Portuguese authorities would be, according to Clarence, linked to the fact that, “last year the police would have rejected a proposal from the BBC’s Crimewatch programme,” to set up a reconstruction.

Une explication que n’a pas l’air convaincre les enquêteurs portugais et britanniques car ce genre diligence, dans le cadre d’une émission comme Crimewatch, n’a pas le même objectif. Si au Royaume-Uni, elle est utilisée pour rechercher des témoignages, au Portugal le recours à ce genre de diligence, comme il arrive d’ailleurs dans la pluparts des pays européens, sert à consolider – ou pas – une enquête qui est proche de ses conclusions.

An explanation, which does not sound convincing to the Portuguese and British investigators because this type of action, within the context of a programme like Crimewatch, does not have the same objective. If, in the United Kingdom, it is used to find witnesses, in Portugal the intention of this kind of action, as happens elsewhere in most European countries, is to consolidate – or not – an investigation which is close to its conclusions.

Pourquoi une reconstitution après un an ?

"La reconstitution demandée par la Police Judiciaire est un acte incontournable pour Kate et Gerry McCann, car il s’agit d’une diligence nécessaire à l’enquête et qui à toute sa raison d’être car elle a plusieurs objectifs."

Why a reconstruction after a year?

“The reconstruction requested by the PJ is a must for Kate and Gerry McCann, because it is an action which is necessary for the investigation and which has every reason to be done because it has several objectives.”

Le premier objectif est celui de pouvoir constituer un album d’images qui sera ensuite utilisé pour démontrer de quelle façon la scène s'est déroulée.

Le deuxième, probablement le plus important, est celui de pouvoir confronter et vérifier les déclarations des arguidos et des témoins avec les constatations matérielles réalisées sur place. Il arrive, par exemple, qu'ont se rende compte que tel témoignage ne colle pas avec la configuration des lieux.

The first objective is that of being able to build an album of images, which would then be used to show how the scene unfolded.

The second, and probably the most important, is that of being able to compare and check the statements of the arguidos and witnesses with physical findings made at the scene. It happens, for example, when checks are made, that such testimony does not tally with the layout of the places.

Les déclarations des personnes liés à l’enquête peuvent varier entre ce qu’à été dit aux enquêteurs dans les installations de la police et le lieu du crime.

Des informations, des détails, peuvent aussi leur revenir en mémoire : l’arguido ou le témoin peut ainsi apporter des précisions ou faire de nouvelles déclarations.

The statements of people linked to the investigation can vary between what was said to the investigators at the police stations and at the scene of the crime.

Some information, some details, can also be brought back to mind: the arguido or the witness can also bring clarification or make new statements.

On peut progresser énormément dans une enquête avec les déclarations faites sur la scène du crime, une fois que la personne s'exprime dans une situation particulière… Elle est obligée à refaire les gestes qu’elle prétend avoir fait, cette fois-ci sous les regards des autres et en particulier celui des enquêteurs."

Great progress can be made in an enquiry with statements made at the scene of the crime, once the person is placed in a particular situation....she is obliged to repeat the actions which she claims to have made, this time under the eyes of others and in particular those of the investigators.

Une reconstitution permet également de confronter les points de vue des différents "acteurs", notamment celui du suspect avec celui des témoins.

A reconstruction also allows the comparison of the points of view of the various, "players," notably those of the suspect with those of the witnesses.

Trio préparait action d’intimidation à Robert Murat

Deux britanniques et un espagnol, résidents en Espagne, ont été mis sous étroite surveillance par les autorités après l’interception d’un courrier électronique avec les détails des préparatifs d’un voyage à Praia da Luz visant mener des actions d’intimidation à l’encontre de Robert Murat et de son amie Michaela Walczuch.

Selon une source de la police, le trio se serait connu autour d’Helping To Find Madeleine (HTFM), une organisation crée sur internet pour venir en aide à la campagne lancé par Kate et Gerry McCann après la disparition de leur fille.

Three people were planning an act of intimidation against Robert Murat.

Two British people and a Spanish person, were placed under close surveillance by the authorities after the interception of an email with details of plans for a trip to Praia da Luz looking to carry out acts of intimidation against Robert Murat and his friend Michaela Walczuch.

According to a police source the three would be known in connection with Helping To Find Madeleine (HTFM), an organisation created on the internet to help the campaign launched by Kate and Gerry McCann after their daughter's disappearance.

Les trois sympathisants, après avoir pris connaissance de la visite du multimillionnaire Brian Kennedy à Praia da Luz pour une rencontre avec Robert Murat, sont restés convaincus que l’arguido britannique aurait des informations capitales dans l’affaire de disparition de Madeleine.

The three sympathisers, after finding out about the visit to Praia da Luz of the multimillionaire Brian Kennedy for a meeting with Robert Murat, remained convinced that the British arguido had important information in the case of Madeleine's disappearance.

Contacté par téléphone, une responsable d’HTFM à confirmée qu’aucun des trois sympathisants n’a jamais été membre de l’organisation, soulignant qu’il n’y aurait qu’un seul membre masculin dans ses filières. Selon la même responsable, l’activité principale d’HTFM serait la distribution d’affiches de recherche de Maddie.

Contacted by telephone, an HTFM agent confirmed that none of the three sympathisers had ever been a member of the organisation, stressing that there was only one male member on their files. According to the same agent, the main principal of HTFM would be the distribution of posters in the search for Maddie.

Après l’incendie criminelle de la voiture de Sergey Malinka, témoin dans l’affaire de disparition de Madeleine et ami de Robert Murat, la police à décidé de maintenir le trio sous surveillance, sans toutefois procéder pour le moment à aucune détention.

After the criminal torching of the car belonging to Sergey Malinka, witness in the case of Madeleine's disappearance and friend of Robert Murat, the police decided to keep the trio under surveillance, without, however, proceeding to any arrests for the moment.

"Nous avons affaire à trois personnes, âgées de 20 à 34 ans, sans antécédents criminelles connus, du moins en Espagne, mais qui ont été fortement influencés par la médiatisation de l’affaire, " affirme le porte-parole de la police soulignant que "les trois personnes n’ont aucune liaison directe ou indirecte au couple McCann."

"We have a case of three people, aged 20 to 34, with no previous criminal record, at least in Spain, but who have been heavily influenced by the media coverage of the case," stated the police spokesperson, stressing that, "the three people have no direct or indirect link to the McCann couple."

Fourniret and Olivier facing life in prison.

The Times Online reports on the summing up of the prosecution in the Fourniret/Olivier trial in Charleville-Mézières in the French Ardennes.

Times Online 23/05/08

French state prosecutor Francis Nachbar, called for Michel Fourniret to be given a whole life sentence, meaning that he would never be released from prison. Nachbar said he felt physically sick after investigating the case and having to go through the details of the horrendous crimes.

"A serial killer and his wife formed the cruellest criminals France has known as they tracked down virgins in a “terrifying, nauseous and abject” frenzy of murders, a court has been told.
Michel Fourniret, 65, and Monique Olivier, 59, were “monsters” who had plumbed the depths of evil to capture, rape and kill their victims, a French state prosecutor said as he called for them to be jailed for life."

"“I just can't bear these horrors any more,” he said. “You make me want to vomit!”

Monique Olivier has repeated throughout the trial, in which she is charged with complicity in several murders and direct involvement in others, that she was totally under her husband's control and terrified of him. Yet she never took advantage of any of her husband's absences to rush to the police. She could have taken her son and asked for protection. Surely, Fourniret would have been arrested immediately and placed in custody if Monique Olivier had gone to the police? Francis Nachbar, as well as some of the lawyers for the victims' families, has not believed Olivier's pleas about being dominated by Fourniret.

" The prosecutor went on to dismiss Ms Olivier's claims that she was under her husband's spell and played a secondary role in the killings. “You were the one who created the conditions for the murderous frenzy, in order to satisfy your most primitive fantasies,” Mr Nachbar said. He described her as “criminal muse” who had inspired her husband to ever more horrific killings."

Nachbar has called for Olivier to be sentenced to 30 years before being considered for parole. He described Fourniret as, "a “necrophilious monster” whose brain was consumed by vanity and the belief that he was all-powerful," alluding to the evidence that Fourniret had raped one of his victims post-mortem. The defence will sum up next week and the jury will retire to reach a verdict on the seven murders of young women and teenagers, attempted abductions and rapes, for which Fourniret is on trial with his wife as accomplice and co-perpetrator in at least two of the murders. Fourniret was finally caught by the police when one of his victims managed to escape from his van, was picked up by a passing motorist and managed to get the van's registration number.

Enfants Kidnappés 23/05/08: Media silence.

Enfants Kidnappés today carries a brief article about Media silence around the McCann case.

Enfants Kidnappés 23/05/08

Silence médiatique.

Madeleine McCann est l'affaire la plus médiatique en ce qui concerne des disparitions d'enfants au Portugal. Toutefois, depuis quelques jours, les médias ne publient rien au sujet de l'affaire. Et c'est normal, rien ne sera publié ou divulgué avant le 25 mai. Il s'agit là d'un accord entre les professionnels. Seule, une chaîne de télévision portugaise va diffuser "en exclusivité" pour le Portugal, le documentaire, traduit en portugais, que les parents ont accepté de tourner pour marquer la première année de la disparition de Maddie. C'est le seul programme TV auquel les parents, Kate et Gerry, ont participé pleinement. Il s'agit du même documentaire que celui diffusé en Angleterre mais sous-titré en portugais. Dans l'attente que le blocus journalistique soit levé, je vous invite à découvrir deux petites vidéos en portugais. Premièrement la bande annonce du documentaire qui sera diffusé demain et ensuite, un court reportage qui vous permettra de voir certain endroits de Praia da Luz en image ainsi que certains personnages connus depuis le début de l'affaire.

Media silence.

Madeleine McCann's case is the most media-covered of those which concern missing children in Portugal. However, for several days, the media has published nothing on the subject of the case. And this is normal, nothing will be published or disclosed before May 25th. It is an agreement between professionals. Only one Portuguese television channel is going to show, "exclusively," for Portugal, the documentary, translated into Portuguese, that the parents agreed to make to mark the first anniversary of Maddie's disappearance. It is the only TV programme in which the parents, Kate and Gerry, have participated fully. It is the same documentary as the one shown in England but subtitled in Portuguese. While waiting for the journalistic embargo to be lifted, I invite you to discover two short videos in Portuguese. Firstly, the trailer for the documentary to be shown tomorrow and then, a short report which shows a few places in Praia da Luz as well as a few people known since the start of the case.

Transcript ends.

Click on the video links in the Enfants Kidnappés article. Once you have watched each of the featured videos, links will show to other related videos.

I don't know what is supposed to be happening on May 25th. I don't recall hearing or reading anything specifically about that date. It's Sunday, which seems to have been the day of the week for a few revelations!

Enfants Kidnappés 21/05/08: Monique Olivier is overwhelmed by the lawyers for the families about her active role.

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

21/05/08

21 mai 2008

Monique Olivier accablée par les avocats des familles pour son rôle actif.

Des avocats des familles de victimes ont martelé mercredi devant la cour d'assises des Ardennes que Monique Olivier avait joué un rôle actif au côté de son mari, Michel Fourniret, dans les meurtres de cinq jeunes filles ou adolescentes commis entre 1989 et 2001. Au second jour des plaidoiries des parties civiles, les avocats ont une nouvelle fois accablé l'épouse du tueur en série présumé, jugé pour sept meurtres aggravés, en soulignant son rôle de "détonateur" dans l'équipée criminelle qu'elle a formée pendant dix-sept ans avec Michel Fourniret. Emboîtant le pas à Me Paul Lombard, qui avait dépeint mardi un "couple fusionnel où il y a une machine à tuer et une femme qui met en marche la machine", Me Didier Seban a dénoncé la culpabilité de Monique Olivier dans la "loterie sanglante" mise en oeuvre par le couple. "Ils se sont assistés, ils se sont aidés pour tuer Jeanne-Marie Desramault, pour la faire taire (...) Elle est l'auteur de ce meurtre autant que Fourniret", a déclaré l'avocat de la famille de l'étudiante, tuée en 1989.

Monique Olivier is overwhelmed by the lawyers for the families for her active role.

On Wednesday, before the Ardennes court of assizes, the lawyers for the victims' families, hammered home that Monique Olivier had played an active role with her husband, Michel Fourniret, in the murders of five young girls and teenagers, committed between 1989 and 2001. On the second day of the oral arguments for the civil parties, the lawyers once again overwhelmed the wife of the alleged serial killer, on trial for seven aggravated murders, stressing her role as, "detonator," in the criminal team which she formed for seventeen years with Michel Fourniret.
Following closely behind Me Paul Lombard, who on Tuesday had portrayed an, "intensely close couple where there is a killing machine and a woman who sets the machine in motion," Me Didier Seban denounced Monique Olivier's guilt in the, "bloody lottery," set up by the couple. "They assisted each other, they helped each other to kill Jeanne-Marie Desramault, to silence her (....) She is the perpetrator of this murder just as much as Fourniret," declared the lawyer for the family of the student, who was killed in 1989.

Accusée de complicité dans trois des homicides commis par son mari - ce qu'elle a reconnu pendant le procès -, Monique Olivier a fermement contesté avoir été co-auteur de ce meurtre. "Vous êtes deux tueurs en série qui n'en font qu'un", insiste l'avocat. Pour lui, l'ancienne garde-malade, qui accepte d'épouser Fourniret en juillet 1989, alors que le couple a déjà commis quatre meurtres, n'est pas "celle qu'elle veut bien dire". Pendant les débats, Monique Olivier n'avait cessé de répéter qu'elle avait agi sous la contrainte d'un mari qui la terrorisait. "Il lui suffisait d'un mot" pour dénoncer Michel Fourniret et s'en débarrasser, renchérit Me Sabine Barz, l'avocate de la famille de Natacha Danais, tuée en 1990.

Accused of complicity in three murders committed by her husband - which she has admitted during the trial - , Monique Olivier firmly contested having been co-perpetrator of this murder. "You are two serial killers who are one," insisted the lawyer. For him, the former nurse, who agreed to marry Fourniret in July 1989, when the couple had already committed four murders, is not, "the person she says she is." During the debates, Monique Olivier did not stop repeating that she had been under the control of her husband who terrified her. "It would have taken her just one word," to denounce Michel Fourniret and to be rid of him, continued Me Sabine Barz, lawyer for the family of Natacha Danais, who was killed in 1990.

Devant les neuf jurés, Me Hervé Dupuis, l'avocat des parents de Céline Saison, assassinée en 2000, avoue à son tour son impuissance à comprendre : "Comment une mère a pu élever, regarder son enfant grandir au quotidien avec des yeux d'assassin!", s'insurge-t-il dans une allusion à Sélim, le fils du couple Fourniret né en 1988. Fermant le ban des plaidoiries, Me Gérard Chemla, l'avocat des parents de Fabienne Leroy tuée en 1988 et de Mananya Thumpong assassinée en 2001, revient sur le rôle de cette "femme qui ne parle pas parce que tout ce qu'elle dit peut être mortel pour elle". "Qui était le chef? Michel Fourniret vous avez cru que c'était vous et qu'elle était votre troupe. Je pense que c'est le contraire", assène l'avocat. "Michel Fourniret n'est plus une énigme pour nous. Il est un grand pervers qui a reçu l'autorisation de tuer", ajoute-t-il.

Before the nine jurors, Me Hervé Dupois, lawyer for the parents of Céline Saison, who was killed in 2000, confesses in his turn his inability to understand: "How a mother could bring up and watch her son grow daily, with the eyes of a killer!", he protests strongly, alluding to Sélim, the Fourniret couple's son, born in 1988. Bringing the proceedings of the oral arguments to a close, Me Gérard Chemla, lawyer for the parents of Fabienne Leroy, who was killed in 1988 and of Mananya Thumpong, who was killed in 2001, reviewed the role of that, "woman who does not speak because everything she says could be fatal for her." "Who was the chief? Michel Fourniret you believed it was you and that she was your troop. I think it is the opposite," the lawyer hurls. "Michel Fourniret is no longer a mystery for us. He is a great evil who was given permission to kill," he adds.

Dans son box, Monique Olivier, comme la veille, reste sans réaction, la tête et les yeux baissés. A ses côtés, Michel Fourniret, figé sur son siège, garde le plus souvent les yeux fermés. Il reste impassible lorsque Me Barz évoque le possible viol post-mortem commis sur Natacha Danais, "cette domination ultime, cette déshumanisation". Au cours de leur plaidoirie, deux avocats ont également demandé que la justice et la police progressent dans l'identification des tueurs en série. "Le système n'a pas été à la hauteur. Il sait arrêter des voleurs (...) mais sait-il gérer le couple qui tue au hasard ?", s'est interrogé Me Chemla. "Il faut que le procès Fourniret serve de leçon. Il faut que l'on apprenne à travailler autrement", a demandé Me Seban. Les audiences reprennent jeudi à 13H00 avec le réquisitoire.

In her box, Monique Olivier, as on the previous day, shows no reaction, head and eyes lowered. Beside her, Michel Fourniret, motionless in his seat, mostly keeps his eyes closed. He remains impassive while Me Barz mentions the possible post-mortem rape committed on Natacha Danais, "that ultimate domination, that dehumanisation." In the course of their oral arguments, two lawyers also asked that the court and the police make progress in identifying serial killers. "The system has not been the best. It knows how to catch thieves (...) but does it know how to control the couple who kill at random?" Me Chemla asked himself. "Fourniret's trial must serve as a lesson. We must learn to work in other ways," Me Seban demanded. The hearing resumes on Thursday at 13.00 with the indictment.

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

SOS Madeleine McCann: Irish footbal team manager makes public appeal for information.

Giovanni Trapattoni, manager of the Irish national football team, has made a public appeal for information about Madeleine McCann. He has taken the opportunity of his squad's visit to Portugal to make this appeal.

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

Maddie: Sélectionneur national irlandais appelle le public à informer la police.

Le patron de la sélection national de football de la République d’Irlande, l’italien Giovanni Trapattoni, à lancé un nouveau appel au public à propos de Madeleine McCann, appelant à que tous ceux qui détiennent des informations puissent se mettre en contact avec la police.

"Si quiconque a n'importe quelle information ou tout ce qui pourrait être utile, ils devraient contacter la police'', à dit l’ancien entraineur de l’équipe portugaise de Benfica.

Maddie: Manager of the Irish national team calls on the public to inform the police.

The manager of the national football squad of the Republic of Ireland, Italian Giovanni Trapattoni, launched a new appeal to the public about Madeleine McCann, asking that all those who hold information might get in touch with the police.

"If anybody has any information or anything that could be useful, they must contact the police," said the former trainer of the Portuguese team Benefica.

Installé à Estrela da Luz depuis vendredi dernier, la Sélection irlandaise rentre au pays demain pour y rencontrer, en match amicale, les sélections de la Serbie et de la Colombie.

"J'ai seulement réalisé la nuit dernière que nous étions dans le même resort", à reconnu l’attaquant Kevin Doyle, soulignant "qu’il serait une bonne chose si leur séjour pouvait focaliser l'attention des médias''.

Set up in Estrela da Luz since last Friday, the Irish squad returns to the country tomorrow to meet the Serbian and Columbian teams in friendly matches.

"I only realised last night that we were in the same resort," Kevin Doyle acknowledged, stressing that, "it would be a good thing if their trip could focus the attention of the media."

Malgré l’énorme médiatisation du petit village de Praia da Luz, lié malgré lui à la disparition de Madeleine McCann, les touristes ont commencé à affluer vers l’Algarve comme il est habitude au mois de mai et la sélection irlandaise n’est pas la seule à choisir la région pour effectuer son stage de préparation. Selon un responsable de la logistique, "le climat et la sécurité sont deux des principaux attractives de la région".

In spite of the enormous media coverage of the little village of Praia da Luz, linked in spite of it to Madeleine McCann's disappearance, the tourists have begun to flock to the Algarve as usual for the month of May and the Irish squad is not the only one to choose the region to do their training. According to an organising official, "the climate and the security are two of the main attractions of the region."

SOS Madeleine McCann

20/05/08

Fourniret: the court concludes the consideration of the personality of the accused.

(Photo: Me Didier Seban, lawyer for the Desramault family)

Fourniret trial: On Monday the Ardennes court of assizes will conclude the consideration of the personality of the accused. Michel Fourniret, once again, retreats into silence.

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

La cour achève l'examen de personnalité des accusés.

Michel Fourniret, replongé dans son mutisme, n'aura tenu que quatre jours sa promesse de s'expliquer sur les faits, un temps qu'il a utilisé pour ergoter sur des détails au lieu d'éclairer la cour d'assises des Ardennes sur les sept meurtres dont il est accusé. La cour doit entendre ce lundi les derniers experts pour achever l'examen de personnalité des accusés. Mardi et mercredi seront consacrés au plaidoiries des parties civiles, avant le réquisitoire jeudi. Dans un nouveau coup d'éclat, le tueur en série présumé est revenu vendredi sur son engagement de participer aux débats, qu'il avait pris le 7 mai devant deux de ses enfants témoignant à la barre. L'accusé s'est ainsi replongé dans son silence, comme lors des sept premières semaines de procès où il refusait de s'exprimer faute de huis clos.

The court concludes its consideration of the personality of the accused. Michel Fourniret, retreating into silence, only maintained for four days his promise to explain himself on the facts, time which he used for quibbling about the details instead of clarifying them for the Ardennes court of Assizes on the seven murders for which he is accused. This Monday, the court should hear the final experts to conclude the consideration of the personality of the accused. Tuesday and Wednesday will be devoted to oral arguments of the civil parties before the indictment on Thursday. In another surprising move on Friday, the alleged serial killer went back on his commitment to participate in the debates, which he had given on May 7th before two of his children giving evidence at the bar. The accused, thus, retreated into his silence, just like the first seven weeks of the trial when he refused to speak without, "huis clos."

Avant sa rétractation, la cour a pu entendre l'entendre s'expliquer sur trois meurtres: ceux d'Isabelle Laville dans l'Yonne en 1987, de Fabienne Leroy dans la Marne 1988 et de Jeanne-Marie Desramault tuée en 1989 dans les Ardennes. S'il a reconnu être dans "un état second" lors de l'étranglement d'Isabelle et avoir jeté son dévolu sur Fabienne de manière "non préméditée", Michel Fourniret a le plus souvent entraîné la cour dans des digressions. Il a longuement pinaillé sur des détails, racontant par le menu les itinéraires empruntés ou encore la marque et la couleur des voitures utilisées pour commettre ses forfaits. "Mettez le turbo!", s'est exclamé Gilles Latapie, le président de la cour d'assises alors que l'accusé se perdait dans un long monologue.

Before his retraction, the court was able to hear him speak about three murders: those of Isabelle Laville in Yonne in 1987, Fabienne Leroy in Marne in 1988 and Jeanne-Marie Desramault in 1989 in the Ardennes. If he admitted being in, "another state," while he was strangling Isabelle and having gone for Fabienne in a manner which was, "not premeditated," Michel Fourniret had more often swept the court along with his digressions. he nit-picked at length on the details, recounting minutely the routes taken and even the make and colour of the cars used to commit his offences. "Get a move on!", exclaimed the president of the court of assizes, Gilles Latapie, when the accused was losing himself in a long monologue.

"Il déplace l'objet (de la question), c'est ça la perversion par excellence", a souligné le psychologue Jean-Luc Ployé, un des nombreux experts venus expliquer les mécanismes de "toute-puissance" de Fourniret qualifié de "pervers narcissique", le "summum" dans la hiérarchie criminelle. "Il veut absolument dominer l'autre, ses épouses, ses victimes, la justice. On a bien vu qu'il voulait conduire les choses", a déclaré le Dr Bernard Dufossez, qui a souligné avec d'autres psychiatres l'état "incurable" de l'accusé "complètement emmuré dans sa problématique" de domination. " En face de lui, il n'y a plus les victimes, il y a les familles (...) On existe encore et la punition continue", a estimé de son côté Jean-Pierre Saison, le père d'une victime, qui a déserté l'audience plus d'une heure vendredi avec les autres familles pour protester "symboliquement" contre l'attitude de l'accusé.

"He is changing the emphasis (of the question), that is perversion par excellence," said Jean-Luc Ployé, one of the many experts who came to explain the mechanisms of Fourniret's, "omnipotence," qualified by, "perverted narcissism," the ultimate in the criiminal hierarchy. "He wants to dominate others totally, his wives, his victims, the police. It is well seen that he wanted to lead things," stated Dr Bernard Dufossez, who stressed with other psychiatrists the, "incurable," state of the accused, "completely walled in in his issues," of domination. "There are no more victims facing him. There are families (.....) They are still here and their suffering continues," for his side was said by Jean-Pierre Saison, father of a victim, who had left the hearing for an hour on Friday with the other families to, "symbolically," protest against the attitude of the accused.

Contrairement aux espoirs exprimés par les avocats après la promesse de Fourniret de s'expliquer, les quatre jours d'audience n'ont pas plus permis d'éclairer le degré de complicité de son épouse et de révéler la dynamique criminelle du couple. "Les deux accusés restent sur deux routes parallèles pour surtout de ne pas se croiser" a estimé Me Didier Seban, l'avocat de la famille Desramault. Si Michel Fourniret s'est emporté mercredi contre les "mensonges flagrants" de son épouse et l'a accusée de s'être un jour étonnée de la "facilité" avec laquelle on pouvait "embarquer" une jeune fille, il l'a fermement disculpé du meurtre de Jeanne-Marie Desramault, le seul pour lequel elle est co-accusée. "Le pacte n'est pas complètement levé. Du pacte criminel on est passé au pacte de non-agression", a commenté Me Seban. "Pendant 16 ans, il y a forcément des choses qui l'ont satisfaite, qui lui ont permis d'alimenter ses fantasmes", a estimé le Dr Ployé tandis qu'un autre expert a jugé Monique Olivier "curable", l'accusée n'ayant pas, selon lui, une "perversité active propre". Lundi, la cour entendra les derniers experts pour achever l'examen de personnalité des accusés. Mardi et mercredi seront consacrés au plaidoiries des parties civiles, avant le réquisitoire jeudi.

Contrary to the hopes expressed by the lawyers after Fourniret's promise to explain, the four days of the hearing were no more able to clarify the degree of complicity of his wife and to reveal the criminal dynamic of the couple. "The two accused remain on two parallel routes above all in order not to pass each other," said Me Didier Seban, lawyer for the Desramault family. If Michel Fourniret got carried away on Wednesday against the, "flagrant lies," of his wife and accused her of being one day astonished at the, "ease," with which they could, "pick up," a young girl, he firmly exonerated her of the murder of Jeanne-Marie Desramault, the only one for which she is co-accused. "The pact was not completely lifted. From a criminal pact, they moved on to a pact of non-aggression," commented Me Seban. "For 16 years, there were necessarily things that satisfied him, which allowed him to feed his fantasies," said Dr Ployé, while another expert judged Monique Olivier, "curable," the accused not having, according to him, "her own active perversion." On Monday the court will hear the last experts to conclude the consideration of the personality of the accused. Tuesday and Wednesday will be dedicated to the oral arguments of the civil parties, before the indictment on Thursday.

Roses are red, violets are blue, I saw this......

.......and I thought of you!

Enfants Kidnappés: Fourniret can neither be cured nor rehabilitated.

In the witness box on Thursday, presenting an expert psychiatric opinion on Michel Fourniret, Bernard Dufossez stated that Michel Fourniret was neither curable nor able to be rehabilitated in the current state of our knowledge. Michel Fourniret has confessed to seven aggravated murders and Thursday 15th May saw the opening of the twenty-sixth day of the trial.

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

Monique Olivier "dépendante" face au "braconnier" Fourniret.* Le tueur en série présumé Michel Fourniret s'est présenté en braconnier chassant de manière aléatoire et a renforcé ses accusations contre son épouse et co-accusée Monique Olivier, dont le profil psychologique, dressé jeudi, a révélé une personnalité dépendante. "J'étais à l'image du braconnier qui s'en va en ne sachant pas s'il va ramener à un faisan, un garenne ou rien du tout", a déclaré l'accusé à la 26e audience de son procès pour sept meurtres devant la cour d'assises des Ardennes. Profitant de son voeu de sortir du silence, la cour a souhaité revenir sur l'examen des sept crimes. Le tueur en série a nié avoir préparé ses agressions et s'est vivement défendu avoir ciblé en particulier Marie-Asuncion et Sandra Noirot, deux victimes qui avaient réussi à lui échapper. Isabelle Laville, 17 ans, première victime du couple en 1987, a été ciblée de "manière fortuite" selon Michel Fourniret, à la faveur "de courses dans un supermarché".

Monique Olivier "dependent" faced with Fourniret the "poacher." The alleged serial killer Michel Fourniret presented himself as a poacher, hunting in a chancy way and reinforced his accusations against his wife and co-accused Monique Olivier, whose psychological profile, presented on Thursday, revealed a dependent personality.

"I was the image of a poacher, going out not knowing whether he was going to bring back a pheasant, a warren or nothing at all," stated the accused on the 26th day of his trial for seven murders before the Ardennes court of assizes. Making the most of his vow to come out of his silence, the court wished to go back to the examination of the seven crimes. The serial killer denied having planned his assaults and keenly defended having targeted in particular Marie-Asuncion and Sandra Noirot, two victims who had succeeded in escaping from him. Isabelle Laville, aged 17, the couple's first victim in 1987, was targeted in a, "fortuitous manner," according to Michel Fourniret, like, "shopping in a supermarket."

Enlevée à la sortie de son lycée près d'Auxerre, elle avait été droguée, violée et tuée puis son corps avait été jeté dans un puits. Dans cette affaire, Michel Fourniret a reconnu une forme de préméditation, étant à la recherche d'une jeune fille à déflorer. Il a assuré avoir laissé les "détails" à charge de Monique Olivier, notamment le choix du médicament destiné à endormir Isabelle Laville. "Isabelle a été l'instrument du destin placé sur la route de ma préméditation", a-t-il dit, précisant que Monique Olivier était présente au moment de la tentative de viol. "Dès qu'il s'est agi d'en savoir plus sur la virginité de cette jeune fille, j'ai procédé de manière digitale et Monique Olivier était présente", a-t-il déclaré.

Abducted as she left her school near Auxerre, she had been drugged, raped and killed, then her body was thrown into a well. In this case, Michel Fourniret admitted a kind of premeditation, having been hunting for a young girl to deflower. He assured that he had left the, "details," to Monique Olivier, notably the choice of medication to put Isabelle Laville to sleep. "Isabelle was the instrument of fate placed on the path of my premeditation," he said, making clear that Monique Olivier was present at the time of the attempted rape. "As soon as it was about finding out more about the virginity of that young girl, I proceeded with my fingers and Monique Olivier was present," he declared.

Monique Olivier au crible* Les époux ont étalé leurs divergences sur le degré d'implication de Monique Olivier dans le viol et le meurtre de Fabienne Leroy en 1988, Michel Fourniret soutenant que sa conjointe avait assisté aux faits. "Je n'ai pas assisté au viol !", s'est défendue Monique Olivier. Michel Fourniret s'est montré agacé par son épouse. "Monique Olivier écoute son imagination, elle ment et le sait très bien", a-t-il répondu. "J'ai envie qu'elle respire un bon coup et qu'elle se dise : merde, j'ai envie d'être franche et de me sentir légère", a-t-il poursuivi. Mercredi, il l'avait traitée de "connasse" à l'audience. La personnalité de Monique Olivier a été passée au crible dans l'après-midi, avec le passage à la barre de trois psychiatres et psychologues l'ayant examinée. Décrite par l'un des experts comme une personne "dépendante" de Michel Fourniret, "quelqu'un qui n'a pas cherché à s'imposer", avec une tendance à la "victimisation", Monique Olivier a été néanmoins jugée "capable de contrôler ses actes".

Monique Olivier examined closely. The spouses have set out their differences over the degree to which Monique Olivier is implicated in the rape and murder of Fabienne Leroy in 1988, Michel Fourniret arguing that his wife had helped with the deeds. "I did not help with the rape!", Monique Olivier said in her own defence. Michel Fourniret showed his annoyance with his wife. "Monique Olivier listens to her imagination. She is lying and she knows it very well," he responded. "I want her to take a deep breath and say to herself: shit, I want to be free and to feel light," he continued. On Wednesday, he had called her, "stupid bitch," at the hearing. Monique Olivier's personality was examined closely in the afternoon, when three psychiatrists and psychologists who had examined her, came to the bar. Described by one of the experts as someone who was, "dependent," on Michel Fourniret, "someone who did not seek to impose herself," with a tendency to, "victimisation," Monique Olivier was nevertheless judged to be, "capable of controlling her actions."

Elle a fourni l'illustration de sa passivité lors d'un face-à-face avec Me Lombard, avocat des parties civiles, qui, l'enjoignant d'en "finir avec les trous de mémoire et les plaisanteries", lui a demandé ce qu'elle avait fait pour sauver la jeune Elisabeth Brichet, 12 ans, assassinée par son époux avec sa complicité. "Rien, je n'aurais rien pu faire", a-t-elle dit, mains tremblantes posées sur le micro et voix chevrotante. "Vous avez fait reculer les limites de la veulerie !", a alors tonné Me Lombard. Les experts ont aussi souligné son insensibilité envers les victimes - aucune trace de dépression n'a été relevée - et sa capacité à supporter les crimes de son époux sans éprouver de "stress post-traumatique" ni "regret spontané", dénotant une certaine force de caractère.

She provided an illustration of her passivity when, face to face with Me Lombard, lawyer for the civil parties, who, enjoining her to, "have done with the memory lapses and jokes," asked her what she had done to save the young Elisabeth Brichet, aged 12, who was killed by her husband with her complicity. "Nothing. I could have done nothing," she said, trembling hands placed on the microphone, voice quavering. "You have pushed the limits of spinelessness," Me Lombard then thundered. The experts also stressed her insensitivity towards the victims - no trace of depression was revealed - and her capacity to support her husband's crimes without experiencing, "post-traumatic stress," nor, "spontaneous regret," denoting some strength of character.

"J'ai un coeur et si le docteur vivait avec moi pendant un certain temps il verrait qu'il se trompe", a rétorqué Monique Olivier à un médecin-psychiatre, précisant qu'elle pleurait dans sa cellule, car elle ne voulait pas le faire "devant les victimes". "Et si j'avais une personnalité forte, j'aurais fait comme toutes les femmes de Michel Fourniret, je l'aurais quitté", a-t-elle ajouté. Vendredi, d'autres psychologues et psychiatres viendront témoigner et les débats porteront vraisemblablement sur un point controversé : le quotient intellectuel de Monique Olivier, estimé par les experts belges à 95 - c'est-à-dire dans la moyenne - et par un expert français à 131 - hautement supérieur.

"I have a heart and if the doctor were to live with me for any length of time, he would see that he is mistaken," retorted Monique Olivier to a psychiatrist, making clear that she cried in her cell, because she did not want to do it, "in front of the victims." "And if I had a strong personality, I would have done the same as all Michel Fourniret's women, I would have left him," she added. On Friday, other psychologists and psychiatrists will give evidence and the debates will be likely to cover a point of controversy: Monique Olivier's IQ, estimated by the Belgian experts as 95 - that means average - and by a French expert as 131 - highly superior.

Fourniret n'est pas réadaptable, selon un expert.* Michel Fourniret "n'est ni curable ni réadaptable dans l'état actuel de nos connaissances", a déclaré jeudi à la barre de la cour d'assises des Ardennes un expert psychiatre qui a examiné l'accusé pendant l'enquête. "Entendre Michel Fourniret expliquer ses crimes, c'est assez insupportable même quand on est un professionnel", a déclaré Bernard Dufossez, assurant que Michel Fourniret ne possédait pas la "simple humanité ordinaire". Le décrivant comme un homme manquant "totalement d'humilité, "vaniteux", l'expert a assuré que Michel Fourniret aimait "intellectualiser pour masquer ses pulsions sadiques et perverses" avant d'ajouter que l'accusé "était content d'être l'objet d'une étude". A une question de la défense, l'expert a assuré ne pas savoir comment l'on devenait Michel Fourniret. "Monique Olivier a supporté l'insupportable. Pour cela, il faut avoir une structure perverse", a-t-il dit de l'épouse de l'accusé qui comparait à ses cotés. Le couple est jugé pour une série de sept meurtres et plusieurs tentatives d'enlèvement.

Fourniret cannot be rehabilitated, according to an expert. Michel Fourniret, "is neither curable nor can he be rehabilitated in the current state of our knowledge," a psychiatrist who had examined the accused during the investigation, stated at the bar on Thursday. "To hear Michel Fourniret explain his crimes, is quite unbearable even when you are a professional," Bernard Dufossez stated, assuring that Michel Fourniret did not possess, "simple everyday humanity." Describing him as a man lacking, "totally in humility," "vain," the expert assured that Michel Fourniret liked, "to intellectualise to mask his sadistic and perverted compulsions," before adding that the accused, "was happy to be the subject of a study." To a question from the defence, the expert assured that he did not know how someone became Michel Fourniret. "Monique Oliver supported the insupportable. For that, it was necessary to have a perverted make-up," he said of the wife of the accused who appears with him. The couple are being tried for a series of seven murders and several attempted abductions.

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