Chilean Nicolas Zepeda will respond from Tuesday March 29 before the Doubs Assize Court for the assassination - which he has always denied - of his Japanese ex-girlfriend Narumi Kurosaki, who has been missing since December 2016. With translations simultaneous in Spanish and Japanese, and witnesses questioned by videoconference from Japan or Chile, the hearing which will open at 9.30 a.m. will kick off an extraordinary trial scheduled to last until 12 April.
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A brilliant scholarship student, who arrived in Besançon in the summer of 2016 to learn French, Narumi Kurosaki, 21 at the time, disappeared on December 4, 2016. Her ex-boyfriend, Nicolas Zepeda, with whom she had broken up previous autumn, is the last to have seen her alive.
“
Her parents know, after five years, that their daughter could neither disappear nor kill herself.
(…) They have no doubt that Mr. Zepeda killed her
, ”says Me Sylvie Galley, lawyer for Narumi's family, whose mother and youngest sister will make the trip from Tokyo.
According to the prosecution, the young Chilean who could not bear the break would have come to find her in Besançon and would have killed her in her university room, before getting rid of the corpse in the vast forests of the Jura, where the Doubs winds its way.
One last night together
Nicolas Zepeda, 31 now, has been in pre-trial detention in Besançon since July 2020, after his extradition by Chile, obtained after a hard fight by French magistrates.
Defended in particular by Me Jacqueline Laffont, known for having been the lawyer for Patrick Poivre d'Arvor or Nicolas Sarkozy, the young man, who fell in love with Narumi on the benches of the Japanese university of Tsukuba, categorically denies any responsibility in his disappearance.
Imprisoned in solitary confinement because of the media coverage of this case, “
he arrives almost relieved to finally be able to explain himself, to finally be heard, he arrives determined
”, affirms the defense.
Nicolas Zepeda admitted having spent this last night of December with Narumi, found, according to him, by chance during a visit to France.
But that night, several witnesses heard "
screams of terror
" and a dull noise "
as if someone were knocking
".
However, no one calls the police.
In the days that followed, relatives of Narumi Kurosaki received, via the young woman's accounts on social networks, messages sometimes deemed inconsistent.
Investigators from the Besançon judicial police will later attribute them to the accused.
It was not until December 13 that an official from the University of Franche-Comté declared the disappearance of the student.
Nicolas Zepeda then returned to Chile, after spending several days in Spain with a cousin.
A tricky case
When the investigation begins, no trace of blood or struggle is found in the student's room.
His personal effects are all present except for a suitcase and a blanket.
Nicolas Zepeda spontaneously presents himself to the Chilean police, explains that he left Narumi alive after a night spent together.
But his actions, such as a detour through a forest or the purchase of matches and a can of flammable product, quickly make him the main suspect.
"
A biased accusation without any scientific proof
" and "
an investigation carried out on the basis of suspicions and suppositions
", disputed the father of the accused, Humberto Zepeda, in February in an interview with the JDD.
The defense - which recalls that there is no body or trace in the room in this case - deplores a holey investigation full of gray areas.
She also recalls that Nicolas Zepeda has no criminal record and has never been involved in any case of violence.
The public prosecutor of Besançon, Étienne Manteaux, who will be general counsel at the trial, on the contrary estimated in January 2021 that the file presented "a
lot of technical data
" (telephony, geolocation of his vehicle, purchases by credit card... ).
The accusation, he says, is also based on "
testimonies from relatives challenging Mr. Zepeda's version
" of a chance meeting in Besançon and a last night of love.
Despite numerous investigations, the victim's body remains untraceable.
“
As in any criminal case where there is no body, it is a delicate case
”, observes Me Randall Schwerdorffer, lawyer for the new boyfriend that Narumi Kurosaki was dating at the time of his disappearance, also a civil party.
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