Since 8 June, French authorities have jailed 924 people for sexual offences against minors, Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said on Tuesday, after ordering a full review of complaints following the murder of 11-year-old Lyhanna.
The number of imprisonments marks a 134% increase compared with the average, Darmanin said.
Since then, 1,700 judicial investigations have also been opened. That is 271% higher than in the same period last year.
Darmanin instructed all prosecutors-general across France to re-examine every case after it emerged that complaints had already been filed in 2022 and 2025 against the main suspect, 41-year-old Jérôme B., for sexual offences involving a minor.
The French Justice Ministry said the measures should not be seen as an exceptional mobilisation in response to a single tragedy.
Instead, it said, they form part of a structural and lasting shift in the implementation of criminal justice policy aimed at protecting minors.
