Dozens of media expected, hearings translated in full and simultaneously into Spanish and Japanese… The Doubs Assize Court is judging from Tuesday March 29 the Chilean Nicolas Zepeda, accused of having murdered his Japanese ex-girlfriend, Narumi Kurosaki, disappeared without a trace, on December 5, 2016 in Besançon.
Franceinfo summarizes what you need to know about this trial observed from three continents.
A body never found
Brilliant scholarship student, who arrived in Besançon in the summer of 2016 to learn French as part of a partnership between the universities of Franche-Comté and Tsukuba, Narumi Kurosaki disappeared on December 4, 2016. She was then 21 years old .
Met in Japan in the fall of 2014, her ex-boyfriend Nicolas Zepeda is the last to have seen her alive. According to the prosecution, the young Chilean could not stand his breakup with the student, which occurred a few months earlier. He 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 meanders.
Nicolas Zepeda admitted to having spent this last night of December with Narumi Kurosaki, which he would have found, according to him, by chance during a visit to France. But that night, several residents of Cité U said they heard “screams of terror” and a dull noise “as if knocking”. However, no one called the police.
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.
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. Despite numerous investigations, Narumi Kurosaki’s body has never been found. “As in any criminal case where there is no body, it is a delicate case”observes Randall Schwerdorffer, lawyer for the new boyfriend that the student was dating at the time of her disappearance, who filed a civil action.
An accused with a mysterious profile
In this case, all suspicions relate to Nicolas Zepeda. “The parents [de Narumi Kurosaki] know, after five years, that their daughter could neither disappear nor kill herself. (…) They have no doubt that Mr. Zepeda killed her”says Sylvie Galley, lawyer for the family of the student, whose mother and youngest sister will make the trip from Tokyo.
Now 31, Nicolas Zepeda 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 Jacqueline Laffont, known to have been the lawyer for Patrick Poivre d’Arvor or Nicolas Sarkozy, he categorically denies any responsibility for the disappearance of the student. He was imprisoned in solitary confinement because of the media coverage of this case, and faces life imprisonment.
From the beginning, this young man from a wealthy family (his father is one of the leaders of the telephone operator Movistar) claims to have spent the night of December 4 to 5 and the following day with his ex-girlfriend. He would have left her alive on December 6 around 4:30 am and would then have continued his European journey as planned.
“There is no proof of death, no place, no specific terms, no clear scenario of what happened. (…) This file is a bit of a house of cards.”
The lawyers of Nicolas Zepedabefore the trial
“We have absolutely no doubt about Zepeda’s involvement because there are many elements in the file that establish this involvement”replies Randall Schwerdorffer, who defends Narumi’s last known boyfriend Kurosaki. Among these elements are telephone data, the geolocation of the car rented by Nicolas Zepeda during his stay in France, purchases by credit card, including that of a can of flammable product and matches.
Nicolas Zepeda will also have to explain his exchanges with his cousin from Spain, with whom he passed a few days after the disappearance of the student, before returning to Chile. In text messages, the accused would have asked his cousin to keep quiet about his coming to Europe, claiming family problems, in particular with his father. He would also have mentioned Narumi Kurosaki when speaking of her in the imperfect, reports France 3 Bourgogne Franche-Comté.
An extraordinary trial
In addition to the courtroom, two retransmission rooms were opened by the Doubs Assize Court. It is that the trial, for which around forty media have asked to be accredited, will be particularly followed in France, but also in Japan and Chile. So that the accused and the civil parties can follow the discussions, the proceedings will be translated live into Japanese and Spanish.
After Tuesday, which will mainly aim to identify the personality of the accused, the witnesses will be heard from Wednesday before Nicolas Zepeda is questioned for the first time the next day on the facts themselves, at least if the court sticks to the planned schedule.
Narumi Kurosaki’s family hopes that this moment of truth will allow the accused to confess. “They would like to come back with their daughter’s body” to offer him a funeral and finally be able to mourn, underlines their lawyer.