Neither body nor confession, but an "
extremely rare
" bundle of evidence: sentenced at first instance to 28 years' imprisonment for the assassination of his Japanese ex-girlfriend Narumi Kurosaki, the Chilean Nicolas Zepeda is retried from Tuesday in Vesoul for a crime he denies.
At 9 a.m., the 32-year-old man will take his place in the accused's box at the Haute-Saône Assize Court of Appeal.
As last spring in front of the assizes of the Doubs, this one must last two weeks and end no later than March 8.
Read alsoNicolas Zepeda trial: the pain and anger of Narumi Kurosaki's mother
The system deployed during the first trial, already very important, will be renewed, according to the public prosecutor of Besançon Étienne Manteaux, general counsel for the two trials: simultaneous translations into Spanish and Japanese, witnesses heard by videoconference from Japan or Chile in depending on time differences, special rooms set up for the public and the press... No less than 23 media are accredited.
Two days before the opening, the big question revolves around the position that Nicolas Zepeda will adopt: will he continue to proclaim his innocence or will he deliver another version of the facts?
screams of terror
Asked by AFP, his new lawyer, Antoine Vey, did not respond.
This tenor of the Parisian bar takes over from another seasoned lawyer, Jacqueline Laffont, who had completed the first "
very tested
" trial last April:
"I am leaving (...) upset by this trial (...) d 'a dramatic, painful intensity rarely achieved
,' she confided.
During a high-tension hearing, when her client was overwhelmed by the elements of the case and subjected to a barrage of questions, she seemed to reach out to him for a hypothetical confession.
Wavering, the accused had nevertheless remained clinging to his position:
“I did not kill Narumi!
I want to know too!
he had shouted, in tears and banging his fist.
On April 12, jurors sentenced him to 28 years in prison for murder.
Presumed innocent, this time he risks life imprisonment.
According to the investigation, Narumi Kurosaki, who arrived in Besançon in the summer of 2016 to learn French there, had broken up with Nicolas Zepeda, whom she had met when they were both studying in Japan.
Without warning her, the rejected lover had come to find her in Besançon and had spent the night of December 4 to 5, 2016 with her.
That night, in the university residence, witnesses say they heard "
screams of terror
" and a dull noise "
as if someone was knocking
".
No one has seen the fine-faced Japanese woman, then 21 years old, again.
His body has never been found.
From the start, this boyish-looking dark-haired boy hammers it: he has nothing to do with Narumi's disappearance.
A body of evidence
False, retorts the prosecution: with an "extremely rare" body of evidence (testimonials, telephone, geolocation of the car rented by the accused, etc.), the Advocate General had argued at first instance that Nicolas Zepeda, who never supported the rupture, had suffocated or strangled her before immersing her body in the Doubs, near Dole (Jura).
A premeditated crime, according to Étienne Manteaux.
The Chilean then hacked Narumi's accounts on social networks to pass her off as alive, the time to return to Chile from where he was extradited in July 2020 to France.
"
I still hope for a confession in this second trial
," one of the civil party lawyers, Randall Schwerdorffer, counsel for Narumi's companion at the time of his disappearance, told AFP.
“
We saw (Nicolas Zepeda) very shaky several times
” in the first instance, in particular “
when his statements were put to the test of questions
”, he added.
