Requests for revision of the penal court decision
Since the verdict in 1924 and until the last decision to reject was announced on December 14, 2006, there have been 9 major requests for review. The total number is probably more, but some of the requests were in the form of a simple letter sent to the Minister of Justice.
1/ 1926-1929 First request for review
Guillaume Seznec's wife, Marie-Jeanne and brother in law, Petitcolas, started a request for reviewin 1926. They found a trace of a certain Gherdi, an Algerian, that traded in American car parts.
Could he have been the famous Sherdly or Chardy noted by Seznec as having an appointment with Quéméneur. During the case, the indictment indicated that this person was a figment of Seznec's imagination. A lengthy investigation concluded with no results. There were other requests more or less serious concerning Mrs. Petit. She was never located.
Marie-Jeanne Seznec died May 14, 1931 in poverty.
2/ 1932 Judge Charles-Victor Hervé
In the 1930's, a former justice of the peace in Pontrieux takes up the torch to try to prove Seznec's innocence. He wrote a book « Justice for Seznec ». His theory was that Quéméneur was assassinated by a member of his family at his property Traou-Nez in Plourivo. Sailors on a barge, the « Marie-Ernestine » moored on the river were witness to gunshots. The problem with that though, is that it happened on May 25, 1923. On this day, the guardian of the property held the wedding of his daughter there, and that the gunshots were fired for the occasion.
3/ In 1938, another request is filed by Guillaume Seznec's daughter. The attorney is Master Philippe Lamour. This is after the discovery of objects beloning to Pierre Quéméneur.
4/ In 1948, a new request is filed by Guillaume Seznec and Master Raymond Hubert. The request is close to the theories developed by Hervé. The reques is rejected on July 7, 1949.
5/ In 1951 and 1952, Jeanne Seznec assisted by Master Ramond Hubert filed two requests in September 1951 and January 1952.
6/ In1955, a journalist with the tabloid press, Claude Bal, becomes interested in the case.He published a book « Seznec is Innocent » after the death of Guillaume Seznec. The book was not very serious. The author invented facts. Yet another request for review was filed by Attorneys Master Biaggi and Master Hubert.
7/ In 1977, A 13th request for revision, this one a bit more serious, was filed by Master Denis Langlois in the name of Jeanne Seznec. He took up the entire case and and brought out the incoherences.
The request was rejected in June 1996.
8/ Last request for review was rejected on December 14, 2006.
Since the law of June 23, 1989, article 622 of penal procedure anticipates : « The review of a definitive penal decision may be requested to beneft any person condemned of a crime while, after a condemnation, new information is made known of a nature that might bring doubt as to the culpability of the condemned.
March
30, 2001, the french Minister of Justice, Marylise Lebranchu, referred again the
review commission. October 5 and 6, 2006, the criminal chamber of
the Court of Appeals starts the process of hearing the lawyers and the Seznec family
The element of doubt rests essentially on a supposed plot by the police. A crroked cop by the name of Bonny who worked the case falsified evidence to inculpate Seznec. He would have fabricated false sales agreements. He would have hidden the Royal 10 typewriter so it would be discovered during the execution of the search warrant. He would have put pressure on several witnesses. He would have acted under orders to protect certain influential politicians implicated in a vast trafic of Cadillac cars to Soviet Russia. This policeman was implicated in several scandals having tainted the 3rd Republic in the middle of the 1930's, notably the cases of Stavisky and Prince. During the Occupation, he used the French gestapo. He was condemned to death and executed at the liberation in December 1944.
Another point of doubt concerns Gherdi who could have been Quéméneur's contact. A resistant, Mrs. Noll believes that she recognizes Gherdi as having been a part of the French gestapo and that he was arrested. This would create a link between Bonny and Gherdi.
There are other points of doubt :
Quéméneur body was never found so we have no real certitude of his death.
no clues about a murder weapon, no how Seznec would have disposed of the body.
no wound
the murder had no witnesses or admissions of guilt
not enough time to dispose of the body
no serious motive
a set-up is impossible
difficulties for Seznec to go to Le Havre
witnesses saw Quéméneur alive after his supposed disappearance.
The Court of Appeals rejects again the request for review on December 14, 2006.
Inspector Bonny who was at the time a simple detective in training could not have mounted such a plot. The court considered that the trafic of Cadillacs to Russia was not proven since no documents were ever stored in the ministerial archives. It has not been proven that Gherdi was the man that has an appintment with Quéméneur. Gherdi was interrogated from 1926 and always claimed that he never did any business with Quéméneur. There is no proof making any relationship or link between Inspector Bonny and Gherdi.
https://www.seznec-affair.com/2022/08/the-seznec-affair-storyline-part-1.html