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Tomorrow, in Charleville-Mézières in the Ardennes,

one of the most momentous trials in the judicial history of France begins.

400 journalists are expected to follow Michel Fourniret's trial,

which begins today in the Ardennes.

The alleged serial killer stands trial for the rape and murder

of seven young girls in France and Belgium spanning 15 years.

His wife, Monique Olivier, is also charged with one of the murders

and as an accomplice in the others.

They have been described as an "evil" couple.

The only thing that the trial can accomplish

is to restore humanity

to the victims whose lives he took.

We've never known a horror like this in France. Ever.

Never.

I had to send a message so society would never forget

the victims and their families.

Some say, "How can you defend this?"

But I'm not affected by criminals or by what they've done.

If I were, I wouldn't be able to do my job.

You can't get carried away by your emotions.

A lawyer is there to be convincing. Otherwise, there's no point.

For me, the challenge was to get the maximum sentence

for Fourniret and Monique Olivier.

For Fourniret, it was a foregone conclusion.

With what he had done, he would be sentenced to life in prison.

For Monique Olivier, it wasn't as clear.

Without Fourniret, Monique would have never been a criminal.

Fourniret would still be a criminal. He already was.

He made her like that. Not the other way around.

She shouldn't get the same sentence as him.

If he got life, she shouldn't.

It's just not possible.

It wasn't going to be easy.

Michel Fourniret, the French forest ranger,

had been charged in Belgium for abducting minors and indecent assault.

His wife has accused him of murdering nine children and young girls.

With at least ten murders, usually involving rape,

experts say he is the most prolific serial killer in France.

Whatever may have happened to Estelle, you have to give her back to us.

The murders by the Ogre of the Ardennes and his wife shocked Europe.

The remains of a teenage girl who disappeared ten months ago

have been found in Belgium.

The Fournirets are said to have raped and killed young girls

in France and Belgium in an extremely sadistic and meticulous manner.

Michel Fourniret's wife presents as a submissive wife

who is scared of her husband,

so has not spoken up until now.

She's a housewife who helps to rape, kill and abduct.

But in the end, she is a housewife.

MONIQUE OLIVIER: ACCESSORY TO EVIL

EPISODE 4 EVIL GENIUS

The trial started in 2008. The atmosphere was indescribable.

There were around 400 journalists from all around the world.

There was a very large audience. The forecourt was full.

FORMER PUBLIC PROSECUTOR

There were big press tents with 200 or 300 seats,

and not everyone could get in.

There was something different about this case.

People became addicted to it straightaway.

ATTORNEY TO THE THUMPONG AND LEROY FAMILIES

So people who originally only came for two days kept coming back.

When the defendants arrived, they were protected by armed police

every morning and every evening.

High buildings all around.

There were residents who would scream at them

and who were particularly aggressive towards the couple.

It was a very strange atmosphere.

The public had a persisting hatred towards Monique Olivier.

It actually seemed to be worse because she was a woman.

JOURNALIST

Some people claim it's worse by saying,

"Don't you realize? She's a mother. She's a woman."

Really? But Fourniret's a father.

Why is it worse that my client is a woman and mother? Somehow it is.

Why is it worse that it's a woman? I didn't understand.

But I felt it. So much hostility.

How do you see Monique Olivier in relation to Fourniret?

What is the difference? Paint me a picture of her, since you know her so well.

I think that Monique Olivier is someone who is scared of everything.

I think she's weak.

Very weak. I think that the expert was right when he spoke of abuse and weakness.

We're all guilty of that. I think that Monique Olivier is weak.

She was extremely cowardly.

She looked normal, mundane. So it made you wonder, "How is this possible?"

"How did she do it? How did she keep doing it? And why?"

Fourniret wasn't the challenging part of the trial.

We knew very well he would get 30 years in prison,

given the crimes he had committed.

The challenge was her. Monique Olivier.

Was Monique Olivier really submissive?

Was she also potentially one of Michel Fourniret's victims, or not?

If she was under his control, the length of her sentence couldn't be the same.

It was a considerable challenge.

MARCH 27, 2008 FIRST DAY OF THE TRIAL

Chloé Triomphe, you're following this trial

for RTL in Charleville-Mézières.

You also saw Monique Olivier and Michel Fourniret arrive in the dock.

Yes, she came in first. Olivier had short, naturally graying blonde hair.

She wore plain sportswear. She looked around, as far as possible,

with all eyes fixed on her.

The room was filled with the families, lawyers, press, the public and the jurors,

all of them facing her.

Under the flashing lights, she cast an expressionless gaze,

suddenly taking stock of the measure of what was happening.

Monique Olivier began the trial like a star.

This woman with badly dyed hair, with five-centimeter roots,

who was completely gelatinous, limp and hunched over.

She arrived with short, elegant blonde hair, like a businesswoman.

She was unrecognizable.

EXPERT PSYCHOLOGIST FOR THE COURTS

She looked like a novice about to enter a convent.

She had changed physically. She had been given advice.

But that's normal, you try to make an impression.

She was more well-groomed, but she was still silent.

She looked like she was wondering why she was in the same dock as Fourniret.

She was a bit like a blob of jelly.

She'd be asked a question, and just look at you for ten minutes

as if she was trying to find the answer to give you.

She stammered and she mumbled.

It felt like she was always in a state of shock. She often trembled when speaking.

There's no need to tremble.

I, erm... I have high blood pressure.

Yeah.

- You can't start trembling, okay? - No, no, it'll pass. It's okay.

The hearing has begun, please take your seats.

Please respect Michel Fourniret's wish not to be photographed.

He will come back into the chamber after the photos have been taken.

Fourniret was loathsome from the start.

He warned President Latapie that he wanted a closed session,

and he made a big sign for himself

saying, "No closed session, closed mouth."

He asked for a closed session, but he also wanted to manage everything.

I thought, "The trial has finally started and now comes the arm wrestling."

FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE CHARLEVILLE-MÉZIÈRES CIRCUIT COURT

She immediately puts her foot in it.

She said, "I want to explain that I am a victim."

"And when the women in the audience find out what I've been through,

they will understand me."

And then, there was a sort of "Oh!" in the room.

As though Monique Olivier could be understood.

I took so many notes during the trial.

I wrote everything down almost word for word.

"Who is Monique Olivier?" asked the judge.

She answered, "I was a submissive wife, never able to stand up to Fourniret.

"I always feel diminished, inferior to others."

The president asked, "What do you think of men?"

"I'd say that, now, I can't stand men anymore."

"I can tell you about love.

"Loving someone and being loved by someone is something I've never experienced."

She said that she was scared.

That she had to do what he said and keep quiet.

She said that she wasn't allowed to talk.

And in particular, she said that after the crimes, she had to do what he said,

and basically be transparent or disappear,

otherwise, she might be next.

So there's no doubt she lived in fear.

When I assessed Monique Olivier in 2004...

every time that Monique Olivier was asked to talk about male identity,

she identified men and masculinity as all-powerful.

EXPERT COURT PSYCHOLOGIST

In her eyes, women have little standing and men are right at the top.

We are more than likely dealing with a dependent personality.

She only existed through Michel Fourniret's desire,

who she had to follow like a good little soldier.

She has this ability to be extremely flexible.

She's very much in tune with the person she's talking to,

whether for good or evil.

It's her motivation.

She is really useful to someone.

I think it's strange how life brought Fourniret such a perfect accomplice.

He said that she was as intelligent as a lobotomized chicken,

meaning she was stupid enough to eat hay.

We're not talking about a learning disability, but we're not far.

She was a poor woman who was a target for his perversion.

A woman who he constantly hit and who he could manipulate.

Surely it's clear to everyone that he had the upper hand.

He was the boss.

Get ready.

In his filmed statements, Fourniret said in particular

that he threatened to kill Monique Olivier and their son, Selim

if Monique Olivier turned him in.

"Stay there, don't move, don't say anything," he said.

"That was the message between Monique Olivier and I."

I do not believe that Monique Olivier is a submissive person at all.

MONIQUE OLIVIER: "I'M ONE OF FOURNIRET'S VICTIMS"

It made no sense to put that forward as a defense,

because nobody could ever believe

that she could do such monstrous things whilst being terrorized.

The psychiatric experts said that they dominated each other.

I agree. That's what I've thought since the start.

Well, typical Monique Oliver.

A ROBOT

Olivier regrets not telling the truth earlier, but she's still not.

BUT WHO IS MONIQUE OLIVIER REALLY?

This afternoon, psychiatric experts will take the stand.

A month and a half in, experts dissect Olivier's personality,

in particular, her intelligence, and everyone is stunned.

I'm a doctor of psychology and a court expert.

The examining magistrate asked me to meet with Mrs. Olivier

with the aim of determining her IQ

to see if she is, in fact, easy to influence, suggestible,

or if she is autonomous.

We have tests for that, which are quite precise.

They're scientific tests. It's not like reading tea leaves.

You have blocks and you have to make shapes with them.

We time it.

It starts with a very simple shape you can make very quickly.

But then it gets more difficult.

This one is the average French person.

Monique Olivier was able to make this one easily.

She did this one easily.

She did this one easily. And she stopped here.

She got 36 out of 40.

The standard average is 11.

So, for someone who has been described by Michel Fourniret,

and others in the files, as someone a bit dim, et cetera,

there is a problem here.

There is another subtest called the Codes.

You have nine numbers, one to nine, and each number corresponds to a code.

So, we asked her to memorize the symbols, then we hid them.

We gave her some examples, 2, 1, 3, 7, 9, et cetera,

and here too, she did extremely well.

She got 76, whilst the French average is 17.

Indisputable.

We were surprised, but at the same time,

because we calculated and recalculated, we were sure.

I have Monique Olivier's original scoresheet.

She scored a remarkable result.

Luckily, I was sitting down. 131.

WECHSLER INTELLIGENCE SCALE

VERY HIGH LEVEL = 2.2%

It's in the top 2.2% of the French population.

The moment you realize that Monique Olivier

has higher intelligence than Fourniret,

it's difficult to imagine that she could be manipulated.

That completely changed everything.

I thought, "She has completely fooled us up to now."

She completely tricked us.

When we saw that, I knew she was clever,

but I never imagined that she had such a high level of intelligence.

And that's Monique Olivier.

She has superior intelligence.

And when you see her, when you talk to her,

you'd give her a lower than average IQ, frankly.

If her IQ is as high as they say,

frankly speaking, you don't see that with the naked eye.

She must be quite the actress. She plays the role well.

I considered her to be very manipulative and extremely taciturn.

At the time, I was aware that this was going to stir things up.

Olivier was annoyed when people spoke about her in that way.

It didn't match the image she wanted to portray.

She got angry and protested.

She said, "It's not true. They don't understand anything."

We had to remind her that it was a criminal court.

That the jurors were right there listening to it all,

and that it might impact the verdict.

An IQ of 131, that's a different story.

She's potentially the manipulator.

If she's no longer Michel's victim... the sentence will go up.

APRIL 30, 2008 A MONTH AFTER THE START OF THE TRIAL

It must have been the last day in April, before a public holiday.

Manyana's case was discussed, the circumstances of her death.

And I sensed that something would be uncovered.

And since I knew that Fourniret wasn't going to speak,

I went to talk to Monique.

I stood in the middle of the courtroom.

I talked to her.

I wanted to try and talk to her about their sex life.

It was hard. She didn't want to talk. I had to rattle her, tell her things.

And at the end of this very long interrogation,

at one point, she said, "Yes, okay, I know what you want me to say."

"You want me to say

that in our sexual relations,

I asked Mr. Fourniret to make love to me."

"You mean, you asked him to make love?"

She replied, "Yes, like the victims."

"I'd say, 'Sir, please, would you rape me?'"

The victim was made to beg the attacker, in fact.

That's what all the victims went through.

They had to beg Fourniret to rape them just before they died.

Something extremely violent was revealed to everyone at that moment.

You felt a kind of dark wave across the courtroom.

And you understood that between them,

they replayed in their sex life

the crimes that they committed.

In other words, she plays the victim in the bedroom as well.

Because he is turned on by it, and it turns her on to turn him on,

and that works for them.

In this pattern, she was in charge of logistics, particularly sexually.

It should be noted that Michel Fourniret was relatively impotent.

He found it difficult to get an erection.

So in order to rape a victim, she had to help him.

She was with him beforehand and she got him ready.

She would sometimes use her fingers to check if the victims were virgins.

She said she didn't like it, but she did it.

And that's not possible, since she's a woman

and it's a little girl she's touching.

You see, she said this without... She had no emotion.

No emotion at all.

PHOTO NO. 10 MRS. OLIVIER LEAVING THE BEDROOM

She stayed with him for 18 years.

That's not nothing. Clearly, there was some perverse interest for her.

She could have left, but she never did.

She could have run away or turned him in sooner.

But she didn't. So she took tremendous pleasure in staying there.

She enjoyed it there. It's a question of gratification, in the end.

So now we have this notion of a female sex criminal that emerges.

They worked together.

The match. The jerrycan.

I think if the devil does exist,

he may have the two faces of Fourniret and Olivier.

Monique Olivier and Fourniret have no humanity.

None.

They are inhumane, cruel and cold monsters.

Really.

When you're faced with a horror like that, you can't be indifferent.

It deeply affects you.

I was able to pass my emotions on to the jurors.

What we needed was to speak to the juror's hearts and souls,

make them feel that conviction.

Because when I appeal to them, that's my deepest conviction.

Truthfully, it's what I feel. And I want the jurors to feel the same.

MAY 26, 2008 PROSECUTION'S CLOSING SPEECH

The trial of Michel Fourniret and Monique Olivier is coming to an end.

Today, we heard their closing arguments.

The prosecutor asked for life imprisonment with no parole

for the alleged serial killer.

And life imprisonment for his wife.

The prosecutor began the closing arguments. The words were striking.

To Fourniret, "You are a grimacing, grotesque clown who serves evil."

To Monique Olivier, "You have betrayed the cause of all mothers and wives."

"Fourniret found his double. Birds of a feather flock together."

An assassin couple compared to Nazi barbarism by the prosecution.

"Monique Olivier is a slimy spider."

"There is the pitiful little Fourniret and next to him, the witch,

the inspiration, the muse for his crimes."

"Without her," said the magistrate, "none of this would have been possible."

Monique Olivier's lawyer believes the scope of the trial changed.

It's an indictment against Monique Olivier that absolves Michel Fourniret.

That's all.

I went back into the room.

I saw that the prosecutor was insulting our client.

The "spider", the "witch".

I don't know if he said "slut" but it wasn't far off. Really foul language.

Horrible images and things.

I said, "Who cares?" My position is that we don't care.

He can say whatever he likes, we expected it.

When I did it, I wrote it down, thought about it all right down to the last comma.

I stand by every word.

After eight weeks of trial, to make Monique Olivier's involvement stick,

we have to talk about the oral sex before the rape,

the intimate examinations...

about her being indifferent to a young girl screaming.

She made them take tranquilizers, Rohypnol and such.

Because after me, no one will mention it again.

More than five hours of closing arguments,

where the two defendants sat with stony faces.

Michel Fourniret closed his eyes without flinching.

Monique Olivier lowered her head, trying to be forgotten.

We knew the trial would be difficult.

But now she was the focus,

all the hatred and resentment crystallized around her.

So the whole trial's attention was on her.

She embodied it all. Michel Fourniret, the couple. And she became the devil.

So I was the devil's advocate.

THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE

Her lawyer, Richard Delgenes, faced seven victim families alone.

It was a difficult task.

He was representing the woman society hates.

The woman who helped kill their children.

MAY 27, 2008 DEFENSE PLEA

Fourniret and Olivier's trial is coming to an end in Charleville.

The closing arguments of the defense are next.

We got 300 meters without being spat on.

- Feel comfortable going inside? - Yes.

But if you want to go in ahead of me, stay ten meters ahead. I'd understand.

When you represent someone who has killed people,

or someone who is guilty...

MONIQUE OLIVIER'S ATTORNEY

...when you stand up to defend the person behind you,

they don't want to listen to you.

It's normal.

But you have to stand up.

When you sing in your bathroom, it's no big deal.

When you sing in the Stade de France in front of a crowd,

you want to sing well.

It's the same for lawyers. You shouldn't think about it.

- Mr. Delgenes? - Yes?

We're waiting for everyone to arrive.

Richard Delgenes, don't you feel that this afternoon,

you will have to defend the undefendable?

And how can you do that?

We're going to defend, like we have from the start.

Everyone has to be defended. There are things we have to say.

I hope I will be heard.

When the time came for the defense closing arguments,

something quite surprising happened that I'd never seen before.

I found out the plaintiffs' families had planned to stand when I got up to speak,

leave and exit the courtroom.

They placed a rose and photos of the victims in front of the jurors.

This is something that is not acceptable,

because everyone has the right to a defense.

There was a moment of tension

between the court and the families of the defendants.

So, they left the room to avoid hearing the arguments

from the defense for Monique Olivier.

We got up and we left.

That was our way of reacting.

Of saying what we thought. Even if we couldn't say it out loud.

We said it physically, we left.

I believe that she is just as guilty, if not more, than Michel Fourniret.

Even if she's 90 or 110 years old, I don't want her to get out.

She had no defense. She was just as responsible as he was.

Fourniret was the brawn.

Olivier was the brains. The brains.

The mastermind.

The victims must be respected. But they must respect the defense.

Whether or not you are accused,

you shouldn't have to apologize for doing your job.

That's how it is in a democracy. Otherwise, it's a dictatorship.

It was our way of paying homage to these little girls,

rather than listen to the defense arguments

that would have paid homage to Monique Olivier,

who we thought was even worse...

worse than him.

Uh...

I said, "Okay. Leave the photos." But I was stressed to make my defense.

I'm 35 years old, I have to plead my case.

I have other things to do than deal with that. For me, it was inconceivable.

And so we decided to leave the photos. That was the compromise.

So that when I spoke, everything would be calm.

Well.

People pointed fingers at Olivier for being a woman and a mother.

But has anyone pointed the finger at Fourniret,

reproaching him for being a father, for being a man?

But she isn't as you describe her, Mr. Assistant Public Prosecutor.

I know her.

I know she's guilty.

Fourniret and Olivier will never get out of prison, that is clear.

What I'm asking for is a distinction.

I'm asking you not to give Monique Olivier the maximum sentence.

We're talking about a small difference, but a symbolic one,

between the hands of a killer and the eyes of an accomplice.

MAY 28, 2008 VERDICT

There was the symbolic violence of the trial.

Anger and suffering was expressed.

Hatred was sometimes expressed. Everything was said.

So, in a trial of this kind, the verdict marks the end of a fight.

Fourniret will die in prison. The verdict is in.

His wife and accomplice will be released

after a 28-year prison sentence with no parole.

It was expected. Olivier and Fourniret have been sentenced to life imprisonment.

We're talking about a murderous couple, a distinction the court insisted on.

This sentence had never been handed to a female criminal before.

But it is slightly less than Michel Fourniret's sentence,

which shows the court made a small distinction between the two of them.

Being the devil and watching the devil act are not the same thing.

It's not the same role.

It's the difference between accomplice and offender.

I felt useful.

Like I played my part.

It's strange they haven't been both given the same sentence.

Nothing will change for me.

We can't be happy.

We lost a child and until that can be fixed,

there's no pardon for the victims.

She deserved more.

I will never forgive what they did. Never. It's not possible.

But justice...

will never replace a child.

MANANYA'S STEPFATHER

It will never replace what we lost, because...

when you lose someone, it's for life.

That's one of the things that killed me.

Because part of me is dead too.

I'm satisfied because I got the maximum possible sentence for them both.

On both. We absolutely had to have the most severe sentence possible.

But it's not over.

I'm convinced there are other victims.

The timeline shows there were one or two victims per year.

But during a whole period from '90 to 2000, there's nothing. No victims.

It's not possible.

A perversion as deep-seated as that of Fourniret and Monique Olivier

doesn't allow for a ten-year break.

I met Michel Fourniret during my pre-trial detention

in Fleury-Mérogis in 1984.

I trusted him. I had a lot of respect for him at that time.

The serial killer Michel Fourniret and his wife, Monique Olivier,

have been sentenced to life in prison after a grueling, nearly two-month trial

for the seven murders of seven young girls.

I was shocked. How could he have done something like that?

At that time, I had to tell him what I was thinking.

I couldn't leave it there. It wasn't possible.

Michel, you know very well that you will never come out of prison.

It is time to make peace with yourself

and have the guts to confess to everything that you did.

Are you brave enough, Michel?

The only thing he did was reply to me with the sordid details of these murders.

The...

the most terrible thing was what came after.

It marked me for life.

He drew lines for me on blank pages,

saying that he was leaving these empty lines

for the police to fill in for him.

Here is the list of victims.

Nine. Ten. Eleven. Twelve.

Sixteen. Thirteen.

Seventeen. Fourteen. Eighteen.

Nineteen. Thirty.

Twenty. Twenty-two.

Twenty-one. Thirty-three.

Thirty-four. Thirty-five.

Completely unbelievable.

From that moment, the investigation picked up again.

And the only person that knew the truth and could talk was Monique Olivier.

WOMEN'S PRISON RENNES, FRANCE

I know her, how she operates.

When she trusts, she speaks freely.

So, if we better understand how she works, we might find it easier to talk to her.

Perhaps, if we understand her, we might be able to solve other cases.

The result matters. Do we want to solve these cases or not?

We have nothing without her.

Mrs. Olivier, how are you?

My imprisonment is going well. I don't bother the guards. I...

- Tell me... - Yes.

What if we're asked about the other cases? For example, the Mouzin case.

- They're looking for other cases. - Yeah.

Are we going to keep up this approach of helping out or not?

Yes, if I knew, I would say, but...

You can't insist that I know. I don't.

People don't seem to understand

when I say, "I don't know, I don't know anything about it."

They say the opposite. They say, "Yes, you know."

Even though I don't know anything.

- I'm going to go mad. - I... I know. I know, it's...

Sometimes I want to kill myself, because then I'd be left in peace.

- Yes. But if you did know... - I want to help.

- I've always said I'll help, but... - I know.

But if you did, would you say or not?

Yes.

There's no reason... that I'd refuse to help.

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