Eloise Bertil
modified to
9:40 a.m., December 12, 2022
On the night of August 26 to 27, 2017, Maëlys, an eight-and-a-half-year-old girl, disappeared during a reception given for a wedding in Isère. Five suspects were quickly arrested, including a certain Nordahl Lelandais, a last-minute guest of the groom, who allegedly spoke to Maëlys then left without saying goodbye to anyone. At the time, Me Alain Jakubowicz was 64 years old. The lawyer is at the head of a firm specializing in business law and criminal law, a renowned professional who will have to rub shoulders with the most hated man in France for five years.
Why does Alain Jakubowicz, an experienced lawyer who has often been alongside victims in his career, a man of conviction who has set himself the red line of not touching criminal cases involving children, agree to defend Nordahl Lelandais? And why, while the evidence is accumulating little by little against this man, does he not let go of the case? This is the question we all asked ourselves while following the Maëlys affair, and the one addressed to her by Noémie Schulz, legal columnist for 10 years, in “Le Coupable”, the new Original podcast produced by Spotify and Europe 1 Studio.
“It is one of the historical roles of the lawyer to defend the accused of the worst of crimes. But did Alain Jakubowicz measure the weight of the burden? Did he anticipate the difficulties that were going to pile up? He will having to endure the disapproving gaze of people everywhere, on a daily basis. He put himself in danger, “says his colleague and friend Me François Saint-Pierre.
“And if he tells me he killed the child, what do I do?”
Over the months and then years, Alain Jakubowicz learned to get to know his client. Then to manage the incriminating elements that accumulate against him. “What is my role as a lawyer? I receive the word and I direct it. In France, lying is not a crime. The accused does not take an oath on the Bible. You have the right to lie. But you must not get caught…”, comments the criminal lawyer.
“The Guilty” reveals the inner conflict of a man torn between his sense of professional duty and his personal moral sense. Discover Alain Jakubowicz’s thoughts and questions during the investigation, but also during his private discussions with his client, Nordahl Lelandais. When does the criminal lawyer understand the hell he has set foot in? Who does he call on when the burden becomes too heavy? And what light does his testimony shed on the functioning of justice in France?
To get the answers to these questions, listen to “Le Coupable”, an eight-episode Original podcast written by Noémie Schulz, available exclusively on Spotify.