“I am not surprised by the fact that we are being told of new cases”, announced Tuesday on franceinfo Randall Schwerdorffer, the lawyer of Frédéric Péchier. The anesthesiologist, already indicted in Besançon for 24 poisonings which he has always denied, is suspected of eight new cases of potential poisoning of patients in Besançon, including four fatal, announced Tuesday the public prosecutor Etienne Manteaux.
The lawyer expected from the prosecutor “that he explains to us the progress of the investigation in terms of evidence against Doctor Péchier and that was not the case for this press conference.” Randall Schwerdorffer deplores the length of the investigation: “The investigation has been going on for six years and we’ve been asking the same question for six years: ‘What evidence do you have?’ Which is still elementary in a criminal case. That’s the difficulty of this case.”
“We add eight cases, very good, but that does not solve the problem of proof. Doctor Péchier has always said that he had not poisoned anyone.”
Randall Schwerdorffer, lawyer for Frédéric Péchierat franceinfo
Another point denounced by Randall Schwerdorffer, the time spent without his client being heard by the courts, “it’s almost 1,200 days soon”. “The investigation is being done without him. What he has to say is of no interest to anyone, which is quite terrible.” According to him, time was also lost in this case: “two years”according to the lawyer “because we were too quick at the start, so in a hurry to demonstrate our guilt and in reality the case is bogged down because now we are going to reach six years.”
Randall Schwerdorffer announces that a request “to be heard” has already been made. According to him, his client is experiencing the situation very badly: “He’s free. He’s never been detained but it’s worse than being incarcerated because he hasn’t been allowed to work for six years, he’s not allowed to live with his family. For years, he has not had the right to live in Besançon, everything has been taken from him.”
The lawyer explains that he will “take legal action shortly” so that his client “can find a social and professional life in line with his diplomas.” “Let us do all the investigations, very well, but let him live”he concludes.