In *The Incomprehensible Enigma*, Bertrand Vilain presents the results of seven years of research on the ramifications of the Seznec case. Based in particular on archives from French counter-intelligence that returned from Moscow, he claims to have identified the network for purchasing Cadillacs intended for Soviet Russia that Pierre Quéméneur had been interested in before his disappearance in May 1923.
According to the author, a file of 536 documents establishes the reality of this network, which Guillaume Seznec mentioned to explain his trip with Quéméneur. These documents are said to have been seized by the Germans in 1940, taken to the USSR in 1945, and then returned to France after the fall of the Soviet Union. Bertrand Vilain argues that French intelligence was monitoring the organizers of this trade, without their information being communicated to the investigators in charge of the disappearance.
A Condemnation Still Contested
Master of a sawmill in Morlaix, Guillaume Seznec had traveled to Paris with Pierre Quéméneur, a trader and general councilor of Finistère, as part of a project to sell American cars. Quéméneur would never reappear, and his body was never found. On November 4, 1924, Seznec was sentenced by the Finistère assize court to hard labor for life for murder and forgery. He has always denied killing his travel companion.
His family then engaged in a long battle to have his conviction reviewed. ABP had notably reported , in January 2005, on the arguments of the public prosecutor Jean-Yves Launay in favor of a review.
The procedure, initiated in 2001 by the Keeper of the Seals Marylise Lebranchu and supported by Denis Seznec, the condemned man's grandson, ultimately resulted in a rejection on December 14, 2006: the Review Court found that no new evidence existed to cast doubt on his guilt.
A New Request in 2026
On September 30, lawyer Denis Langlois announced a new request for review brought by two other grandsons, Jean-Yves and Gabriel Seznec. This request does not contest the conviction for forgery but challenges the conviction for murder, relying in particular on a family testimony attributing Quéméneur's death to an involuntary act by Marie-Jeanne Seznec. This version remains a hypothesis submitted to the courts.
Bertrand Vilain's book provides another contribution to the case. It aims to shed light on the context of the Cadillac trade in relation to the disappearance of Pierre Quéméneur.
Seznec Case: The Incomprehensible Enigma. Counter-espionage and Secret Archives of Moscow, Bertrand Vilain, self-published, 280 pages, €19.80.
