The lawyers of Jean-Marc Reiser, indicted for the murder of the Strasbourg student Sophie Le Tan in 2018, threatened Friday, September 4 not to defend him any more if he did not "
change
" his position, while their client again claimed his innocence before the judge.
Read also: The alleged murderer of Sophie Le Tan again before the judge
"
There are many elements to charge
" but "
he maintains for the moment the explanations that he has provided for many months
", namely that these charges "
are only a + scaffolding of assumptions +, according to his expression
" , declared Me Pierre Giuriato, one of his lawyers, at the end of the hearing of his client, the fifth, before the examining magistrate Eliette Roux.
The judge notably informed Mr. Reiser of the conclusions of the autopsy report confirming that the saw discovered at home with Sophie Le Tan's blood on the handle is compatible with the traces of cutouts found on the skeleton of the young woman. "
There are contradictions on which he cannot explain and it is in his interest to explain himself
", Added the lawyer, who said now that he wanted his client to"
evolve
"in his line of defense.
"
It is up to us to extend a hand to him that he will I hope seize so that we can continue together for the rest of the investigation and the possible trial
" before the assizes, continued Me Giuriato.
Friday's hearing was "
undoubtedly
" the last of the investigation, unless Jean-Marc Reiser requests a final one during which he could review his position, argued Me Giuriato, without specifying on what points he wanted see his client evolve.
"
It is possible (not to continue with him) if Mr. Reiser's explanations were not to change, it is possible that we would not go to the assizes with him
" in the event of a trial, a threatened the council.
"
I am always at his side, just like Me (Francis) Metzger, we just try to see with him what is the act of defense that would be the most able to avoid him the maximum penalty
", he said. he adds.
Jean-Marc Reiser legally knows the case very well, "
it's almost a third lawyer (...) we discuss on an equal footing
", he said.
Relatives of Sophie Le Tan "are
awaiting a trial
" and also "
to give a funeral to Sophie,
" said their lawyer, Me Rémi Sthephan.
"
The family no longer expects anything from Mr. Reiser, they are waiting for justice to go to the end
".
Jean-Marc Reiser, 59, was arrested in September 2018 a few days after the disappearance of the 20-year-old student who responded to a real estate ad posted online by the suspect.
More than a year after her disappearance, the incomplete skeleton of Sophie Le Tan was discovered at the end of October 2019 in a Vosges forest, in Rosheim (Bas-Rhin), where the suspect went regularly.
Significant traces of the young woman's blood were found in the suspect, as well as traces of her DNA on the handle of a saw.
In June, the Court of Cassation dismissed an appeal from Mr Reiser seeking the quashing of several pieces of evidence potentially damning for him.
He also made several requests for release, all of which were rejected.