What is the irreducible life sentence to which Dahbia Benkired, Lola’s murderer, was sentenced? – Liberation
This is the sentence to which Dahbia Benkired was sentenced. In accordance with the requisitions of the public prosecutor, who had requested this sentence “in responsibility to protect the society of a woman of whom I am deeply convinced of [l’]extreme dangerousness”this Friday, October 24, at the conclusion of the trial in the Lola Daviet case.
This sanction, the heaviest in the Penal Code, has only been imposed five times in France since its creation in 1994; four times for child criminals who killed minors, and once for the terrorist Salah Abdeslam, the only surviving member of the commando from the attacks of November 13, 2015. Dahbia B., tried for rape, torture and murder of Lola, 12 years old at the time of the events, is the first woman in France to incur this sentence.
Even in November 2023, during the trial of Monique Olivier, wife and accomplice of Michel Fourniret, himself having received an irreducible life sentence, the 78-year-old culprit had “only” received life imprisonment, accompanied by a security period of twenty years. “She’s the only one with whom we could have compared Dahbia B., but in the case of Monique Olivier, he was a man in charge”points out criminal lawyer Isabelle Steyer registered with the Paris bar.
The perpetuity or incompressible security, is also commonly called “real life” since it does not allow sentence adjustment. That is to say that the years of detention pronounced during the judgment cannot be reduced or adjusted as provided for by French law for traditional sentences.
However, the law provides that after thirty years of detention, the convicted person can request a reassessment of their sentence and a possible release from prison. This decision would only be taken on the advice of a commission composed of five magistrates of the Court of Cassation, after consulting the victims and on condition that it does not cause serious disturbance to public order. “In principle, the irreducible life sentence is life, but the sentencing judge can always assess the situation after the thirty-year security period, depending on exceptional cases: serious illness, psychological disorders, etc.,” specifies Me Isabelle Steyer.
Intended as a replacement for the death penalty repealed in 1981, irreducible life imprisonment was initially planned for crimes of murder and rape of children. In 2011, after the death of a brigadier, it was then extended to murders or attempted murders of persons holding public authority. After the series of attacks that bloodied France in 2015, a law widened its scope again, this time to include terrorist crimes.
Me Isabelle Steyer justifies this sentence by the troubled profile of the accused: “This extremely well-crafted, dangerous procedure, which testifies to a certain pleasure in causing pain, could be the first in a long series”she affirms, linking it to the serial nature of the crimes of the previous convicts.
The mother of little Lola, Delphine Daviet, had asked that “this thing“, “this monster» be imprisoned for the rest of his life – designating by these terms Dahbia Benkired. “It’s a response to the family’s request, and to public opinion,” Estimate me Steyer. “When we have so little affect, the ability to talk about what we have done to people, even in retrospect, are we not in the circumstances of a repeat offense?”interprets the lawyer, who questions the way in which the defendant presented herself at the assize court: silent or provocative, turning away from the alleged facts to discuss her breakup with her ex-boyfriend.
Imprisoned for three years in provisional detentione at Fresnes prison, Dahbia Benkired will therefore have to wait at least 27 years before asking for her sentence to be re-evaluated. His lawyers have ten days to appeal the decision rendered this Friday.
Updated at 5:36 p.m. with the conviction of Dahbia Benkired.
