Invited this morning to Sonia Mabrouk's "Grande Interview" on CNEWS-Europe 1, Stéphanie Bonhomme, mother of 14-year-old Elias, who was killed with a machete in Paris, gave a moving testimony and a serious political warning. As the controversy continues surrounding the remarks of General Fabien Mandon (Chief of the Defence Staff), who stated at the mayors' congress that France must "accept losing its children" in the event of war, Elias's mother points out the government's contradictions: before even talking about battlefields, the country is already incapable of protecting its children in its own streets.
"Before the battlefield, it's the street that kills": an indictment of the failure of the juvenile justice system
“Parents will lose their children in the street before they lose them on a battlefield,” Stéphanie Bonhomme courageously declared, urging the French public to read the damning report by the General Inspectorate of Justice on Elias’s death. The document exposes a series of failings within the juvenile justice system and the “chronicle of a death foretold.” The two teenagers charged with his son’s murder, known for violence and theft, lived in the same residence despite a restraining order prohibiting them from associating with each other, and their judicial supervision had been denied on the grounds that they had expressed “remorse.”
For Elias's mother, these incomprehensible decisions led directly to the tragedy. She demands explanations from the magistrates, a dialogue, and transparency. "The justice system did not protect Elias. We know who killed him," she repeats, calling for a reform requiring judges to meet with families when procedural failings are established.
Statements that are unsettling even for the media: the accusations against Patrick Cohen
This isn't the first time Stéphanie Bonhomme has pointed out shortcomings. On the CNEWS set, speaking to Christine Kelly, she had already challenged Patrick Cohen after a false report. The journalist had presented her son's death as the result of a stolen phone, which she categorically denies. "He establishes a dubious causal link, almost an implicit justification. It's like saying a woman was raped because of what she was wearing."
This clarification is reminiscent of the previous controversy surrounding the fictionalized account presented by the same journalist during the Crépol case and the murder of young Thomas Perotto. In both cases, the public broadcaster chose to distort and downplay the facts, adding further trauma to the ordeal of the victims' families.
“Restorative justice is inaudible,” contrary to the post-Bataclan discourse.
By denouncing an "inaudible restorative justice" and asserting that "my son's murderers are not human," Stéphanie Bonhomme breaks with the complicit narrative heard on November 13, ten years after the deadly terrorist attacks at the Bataclan. For Elias's mother, as for many other victims, the violence of reality no longer fits into the sanitized narrative that certain political leaders seek to impose. And while the Chief of the Defence Staff urges parents to prepare for "losing their children," she confronts the State with its daily failure: to protect its children first and foremost "in the street, on their way home from the cinema, from school, middle school, high school, or sports practice." A reality that neither carefully crafted talking points nor naive pronouncements can conceal.
