Still Missing France - Narumi Kurosaki, 21, Besancon, 4 Dec 2016 *arrest in 2020* *Guilty, Appeal 2023*

[ZaZara]

Mort de Narumi Kurosaki : Nicolas Zepeda clame son innocence en ouverture de son procès

File: Disappearance of Narumi Kurosaki and trial of Nicolas Zepeda in Besançon
Death of Narumi Kurosaki: Nicolas Zepeda claims his innocence as his trial begins


The trial of Nicolas Zepeda for the murder of his ex-girlfriend Narumi Kurosaki, began on Tuesday before the Doubs Assize Court in Besançon. The Chilean faces life imprisonment. He claimed his innocence on the first day of the trial.

The trial of Nicolas Zepeda, suspected of having murdered his Japanese ex-girlfriend Narumi Kurosaki, started on Tuesday in Besançon in relative turmoil. The young woman disappeared without a trace in December 2016. Her body was never found.

At the opening of his trial, the 31-year-old Chilean once again claimed his innocence. He faces life imprisonment.

More than five years after the disappearance of Narumi Kurosaki, Nicolas Zepeda, the main suspect, spoke for the first time before the Doubs Assize Court on Tuesday. Nicolas Zepeda concluded his first statement by claiming his innocence. Very moved, the young man looked at Narumi's mother and said (in Spanish): "I did not kill Narumi, I feel the immense grief of her family". One could hear the sobs in his voice.

The young man adds that he hopes the truth will emerge from this trial.

Before that, he explained his reasons for coming to Europe. He wanted to clarify his ideas about his plans. If he went to Besançon, it was to see Narumi, and because he felt comfortable there. He also explained that he had not rented accommodation to save money.

In a sky blue shirt and navy blue tie, Nicolas Zepeda sits in the box behind his lawyers, Jacqueline Laffont and Julie Benedetti. The young Chilean, 31 years of age, seems serene and speaks in a clear and calm voice, in Spanish. His parents arrived this morning, without saying a word, faces covered, at the courthouse in Besançon.



Nicolas Zepeda's defence, notably his lawyer Jacqueline Laffont, explained at length that there was no proof of Narumi's death, and that the case had no foundation. The young man has always denied his involvement.

In the courtroom, Narumi's family, namely her mother and younger sister, are holding back their tears. They have come from Tokyo to attend the eleven-day trial. Narumi's parents have high expectations of Nicolas Zepeda's explanations during the trial.

Facing Zepeda, Narumi's mother and younger sister, headphones with simultaneous translation on their ears, do not take their eyes off the accused, according to the journalist from France Bleu Besançon who is following the trial.



Arthur Del Piccolo, the boyfriend of the young woman at the time of her disappearance, is also present as a civil party. He is represented by lawyer Randall Schwerdorffer from Besançon.

During the eleven-day trial, the court will have to deal with the time difference between France, Chile and Japan. There are also 45 witnesses to be heard, from three different continents. The schedules will therefore be adjusted. The exchanges will also have to be translated so that the various parties can follow the proceedings.


The trial is scheduled to last until 12 April.


BBM

 

[ZaZara]

Arrival of Narumi's mother and sister with their lawyer Sylvie Galley on the first day of Nicolas Zepeda's trial

Mort de Narumi Kurosaki : Nicolas Zepeda clame son innocence en ouverture de son procès


Pictures won't post..... hoping for better times to come soon....

 

[ZaZara]

L'Est Républicain, live blog

En direct. Procès Narumi : dans un sanglot, Nicolas Zepeda rejette "ces accusations monstrueuses", revivez la première matinée de débat

The opening of the trial has mobilised some sixty journalists on Tuesday morning. The French press is obviously represented, but the international dimension of the case is also reflected by the presence of many Japanese and Chilean media. In addition to the main courtroom, two other broadcasting rooms, equipped with giant screens and a sound system, were open to the press and the general public.

9 h 50. - I feel like I'm seeing Narumi again..."

The courtroom is packed with jurors. Only six will be selected this morning to join the court president and his two assessors to make up the jury.
All the witnesses called in the trial are also present. Among them, Jérémie Bride, a professor at the University of Tsukuba, who knew the couple Narumi Kurosaki-Nicolas Zepeda well. "It's crazy how much Narumi's sister looks like her. I feel like I'm seeing Narumi again, it's really weird..."


10 h. - The trial of Nicolas Zepeda is opened

The president of the court, Mathieu Husson, has just officially opened the trial. Nicolas Zepeda entered the dock a few minutes earlier, with his entourage. Dressed in a light blue shirt, he seemed rather at ease. He has just removed his mask to talk freely with his lawyers. Opposite him, a few metres away, are Narumi's mother and sister. This is the start of a minimum two-week trial.

Accused of having murdered Narumi, which he denies, Nicolas Zepeda is facing life imprisonment.


10 h 15. - Nicolas Zepeda declares his identity, before the jury draw

At the invitation of the president, Nicolas Zepeda stands up and speaks in Spanish, stating his identity and address. His words were translated in real time by an interpreter. The trial court will now draw lots to select the six jurors who will make up the jury.

10 h 50. - Future debate on the conditions of Zepeda's detention

Before the selected jurors are sworn in, Advocate General Etienne Manteaux, representing the prosecution, takes the floor. He asked that the investigation carried out following a recent complaint by Nicolas Zepeda, on the conditions of his detention in Besançon and the possible ill-treatment that he denounced, be included in the proceedings. Me Laffont, Zepeda's lawyer, intervened immediately. "We only filed this complaint because we were aware of the prison director's report, to which we thought it would be useful to respond", the lawyer explained. The subject will be discussed later.


11 h. - First suspension of the session

As planned, once the jury had been selected, the session was suspended for a few minutes before resuming with the president's report and a possible first statement from the accused.


11 h 10. - Zepeda's cousin refuses to testify

When the witnesses are called, it appears that Nicolas Zepeda's cousin, who lives in Spain, has refused to respond favourably to the summons of the trial court. His testimony was expected.

It was at his home that Nicolas Zepeda had transited in December 2016, after his passage in Franche Comté. This cousin had been surprised by the questions that Nicolas Zepeda had asked him about the deaths by asphyxiation. Nicolas Zepeda had also concealed from him the fact that he had seen Narumi again a few days earlier, the cousin had said during his hearing during the investigation.

11 h 40. - The hearing resumes

The president Matthieu Husson, who had notably presided over the Daval trial in November 2020, is going to detail at length the report of the facts, as they are presented by the investigation.

The president's report of the facts

The first point discussed was "the disappearance of Narumi Kurosaki", he began, "as of December 5, 2016, this 21 year old student stopped attending CLA classes without notice. No one has seen her since. Her only sign of life was messages sent in response to friends, indicating that she had left for Lyon to renew her visa. This was surprising, since the management of Japanese visas depends on an office in Strasbourg. The wording of these messages seemed strange, suggesting that it was not her who was writing.

On 13 December 2016, a first report of a worrying disappearance was issued by the university. "In her room", the president continues, "the investigators found her winter coat, her wallet, her shoes, her laptop, her bank cards, her diary filled in until the end of the year. Nothing was missing except a suitcase and her blanket. The blue star developer test for traces of blood revealed nothing suspicious.

An investigation was initially opened for kidnapping and sequestration. Arthur del Piccolo, her boyfriend, "was heard several times" by the police. "He too mentions strange messages. But as one of his first messages mentioned meeting another guy, he was sad rather than worried", says Matthieu Husson. Del Piccolo's room was searched, but without result.

The police then established that Narumi had made a trip to Ornans, "which was surprising because Narumi did not have a driving licence". The investigation then turned to her ex, Nicolas Zepeda. "The investigation revealed that Nicolas Zepeda had been in France since 30 November and had rented a car for a week. He appears to be the last person to have been in contact with her.

The geolocation of his rented car shows that it was parked between the evening of 4 December and the morning of 6 December, near the Narumi university residence. Then came the episode of screams, described by neighbouring students during the night. "The president said: "The sounds of banging on the walls and the disturbing screams of women.
The judicial investigation evolved into a murder. A search warrant was issued for Nicolas Zepeda.

Nicolas Zepeda made a statement from Chile a few days later.

"He confirmed that he had travelled to Europe at the end of 2016 to find out about post-graduate studies and that on this occasion, he had indeed made a stopover in Besançon, had met Narumi and had dinner with her," the president of the hearing detailed. "Nicolas Zepeda added that he had accompanied her to the university campus, where they had had an intense and passionate sexual encounter.

He had stayed the night and the next morning. Narumi had expressed her shame at having cheated on her boyfriend and he had left at her request via the fire escape. He then waited for Narumi to contact him again afterwards, but she had not done so."

12 h. - The president of the court of assizes continues his report of the facts and evokes the investigation

The president of the court details the technical investigations, telephone and video surveillance in particular, intended to reconstruct the actions of Narumi and Nicolas Zepeda.

He returned to the episode of the shouting. "Sixty students from the university residence were heard. Most of them were not there on 5 December 2016. On the other hand, some of them declared that they were woken up around 3:30 am on 5 December 2016 by the shrill screams of a woman, with strong words such as 'terrible', 'terror', 'horror film', and even the word 'murder'.

Suddenly, all these noises had stopped. Out of fear, the students had not dared to leave their rooms. They all agreed that the screams could not have been cries of sexual pleasure.
Two students also reported "seeing a man lurking in the corridors" the day before. He seemed to be hiding. One described him as Hispanic. Nicolas Zepeda was "formally identified" on a photograph board.

The existence of the famous ultimatum video was discussed. "Narumi had left Japan for Besançon at the end of July 2016. She left Nicolas Zepeda there, until 8 October", the president recalls. Messages between them attesting to their break-up after the arrival of the Japanese woman in the Doubs will be found later, by the investigators. But on 7 September, a video was posted on Dailymotion.

Zepeda "mentioned that Narumi would have done 'bad things', he imposed conditions on her to allow their relationship to continue. At the same time, he said it was normal for her to 'pay a little for what she had done'.

The trial court is now looking at the rental car, booked by Nicolas Zepeda two weeks before his arrival in France, from Chile. The car was "dirty, with dirt in the boot". The exterior was also stained with grass "dirty and dry, as if the car had been driven through the woods. One tyre was showing signs of a tear.

The geolocation of the vehicle provides valuable information to the investigators. We learn that Zepeda remained "in a wooded area south of Dole for 2 hours and 42 minutes" on 1 December. The car was parked from December 4 to December 6 near the Narumi campus. "The car did not move the whole day of the 5th, which seems to contradict Nicolas Zepeda's statement in Chile," noted president Matthieu Husson. In fact, it was not until the following day, in the early hours, that the vehicle left the university residence, triggering telephone relays from 5.55am to 7.44am, near Dole, "in the same area where the car had been located on 1 December."

12 h 20. - The latest version of Zepeda

Matthieu Husson concludes by clarifying Nicolas Zepeda's version, as it was presented to the investigating judge after his extradition to France.

He now explains that "he was present in Narumi's room" throughout the day of 5 December, the couple spending their time "watching films and making love". When Arthur del Piccolo knocked on the door in concern, Narumi "would have signalled him to be quiet", says Zepeda.

The Chilean explained that he had left the campus during the night of 6 December, in accordance with the technical findings of the police, that he "had taken the road to Dijon and that, lost in his thoughts, he had taken the road to Dole and had rested.

He also refutes having lied to his cousin in Spain, about the reasons for his coming" to Franche-Comté.

"Nicolas added that he could not explain Narumi's disappearance", Matthieu Husson concluded.


BBM

 

[ZaZara]

L'Est Republicain, live blog continued


12 h 30. - The first words of Nicolas Zepeda

The report ends. The president turns to the accused, who is asked to stand up. The moment is eagerly awaited. In particular by Narumi's family.

"Mr Zepeda, during this hearing, you will be heard many times. This is not the time to talk in detail about your stay in Europe, that will be done as we go along. For the moment, I would rather outline in a few sentences the course of events..."

Nicolas Zepeda leans over the microphone and starts to speak in Spanish, with a rapid but controlled flow of voice. The interpreter standing next to him translates his words:

I came from Chile to Europe to clear my head. I had to decide whether to continue my studies or to start working. I thought Europe was a good option for me. I had two points of reference, my cousin who lived in Spain. And the second contact was Narumi, who lived in Franche-Comté.

When asked by the president, Nicolas Zepeda explained the reasons why he had decided to come to Europe in early December 2016.

I thought it was important to see if I felt comfortable in Europe, to see if there was bilingualism, and what kind of problems I might encounter. I wanted to know how my Chilean cousin felt in Europe, what his experience was.

The president notes that there are no specific approaches to universities. It would be more of an "acclimatisation trip", Matthieu Husson summarised.

12 h 45. - Zepeda explains his first night in Besançon

The court of assizes is interested in the first night of Zepeda in France, for which the Chilean had not planned accommodation.

"I had planned to be able to sleep in the car, I have no problem with that, I had planned a blanket just in case to put my head down. Nicolas Zepeda assures us that he "made his calculations" in order to save a night in a hotel.

"But why Besançon?" the president asked. "When I arrived in Besançon, it was later than I expected, I spent a lot of time trying to get internet, nobody spoke English, so I thought of the campus. A place where I would be safe, plus it's free."

Why Besançon, the magistrate repeats. "Because the road was easy and because Besançon was a place where I would feel safer, because Dijon is bigger than Besançon," Zepeda replies.

12 h 50. - A reunion "by chance"?

Matthieu Husson warns Zepeda. The next question is important... "Did you know that Narumi was on campus?

"I didn't know about the programme of Narumi. I knew that it was possible that she would be close by. I heard she was on campus, but I didn't know if she was close..."

The president calls him back, and asks him to confirm that on 4 December 2016, three days later, it was a matter of "chance" that he found Narumi...

"A priori, I had no contact, I did not know what Narumi was doing at the time", Nicolas Zepeda replied. The question is obviously crucial. The trial court will come back to this situation later, which is the key to the case, the trial president said.

The president spoke of the growing concern of Narumi's relatives during the month of December, and the press' involvement in the case.

Was Nicolas Zepeda also worried? "Yes, I was worried, but I only learned of Narumi's disappearance through a call from Jérémie Bride (editor's note: a professor at the University of Tsukuba, also cited in the trial, who contacted him on 15 December).

I had little information at the time. It was a bit like the big unknown for me.

13 h. - Me Laffont takes the floor

She relays her client's wish to express himself more widely to the court.

The proceedings become solemn. "First of all, thank you very much for allowing me to speak to you. And thank you for giving me the chance to respond to this horrible accusation. It's a monstrous accusation, it's been five years since Narumi disappeared and since then it's been a nightmare. I have had Narumi in my thoughts for five years..."

Until then full of control, Nicolas Zepeda seems to waver. The armour cracks, a sob suddenly closes his throat. "I feel the pain and sorrow of her family, of her mother," he says with difficulty, glancing at Taeko Kurosaki, opposite him. "Not a day goes by when I don't have them in my thoughts," he continues.

I want to say that I did not kill Narumi. I refuse with all my might these accusations that are being made against me. And I hope that this trial will bring this truth, this light, which we need, to find her. Thank you very much.

13 h 10. - The hearing is suspended


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[ZaZara]

L'Est Republicain, live blog afternoon

En direct. Procès Narumi : les proches de Nicolas Zepeda convaincus de son innocence, revivez la première après-midi du procès

14:20 - The lawyers for the civil parties question Nicolas Zepeda

The hearing resumes in the heart of the matter, without any observation time, with questions of a general nature put to Nicolas Zepeda by the civil parties' lawyers.
Maître Schwerdorffer asked him again why he came to Franche-Comté in early December 2016. Why did he not notify Narumi, the lawyer insists?

"I did not tell Narumi because it was not an idea I had in mind and we had no means of communication between us."

A debate ensued about the choice of parking in front of the car park, on the campus, "right in front" of Narumi's residence, surprised Me Schwerdorffer. "This is not true. It's true that day I parked my car near the campus. There are reserved spaces, I parked where there was a free space. There is not only the Rousseau building, it's easy to see on the map you have in front of you... ". Mr Schwerdorffer insists. The tension rises a notch. The president intervenes.


2.30 pm - "Possibly to see Narumi": the reasons for Zepeda's visit to Besançon

The heart of the debates still revolves around the central question: the reason for his coming. "I of course, I came with the idea of possibly seeing Narumi," he says. "Not just to see Narumi," Me Schwerdorffer asked. "There are several reasons. Narumi had told me about the beauty of the region and we will see in the next few days what happens," replies Zepeda.

Maître Galley, the Kurosaki family's lawyer, steps into the discussion and has "only one question", she announces: did Nicolas Zepeda try to contact Narumi after he left her, on the night of 5 to 6 December?
His first answer is vague.

"You of course, you don't answer my question", Me Galley observes. "It didn't seem natural for her to contact me," retorts Zepeda. An arm wrestle ensues. "That's not the question," Me Galley insistsgently...

"No, as of 6 December, I will not contact her, nor vice versa," Nicolas Zepeda finally concedes.

14:40 - "I realise that it would be a good thing to talk to her again".

Jacqueline Laffont helps her client with a series of questions designed to clarify his position. Once in France, she asked, did the desire to see Narumi again not override his initial plans? Zepeda confirms this.

"Once in France, you realise that you hope to see her again, to meet her again..." encourages Me Laffont. Another affirmative answer. "I realise that it would be a good thing to talk to her again", says the South American, also explaining that he did not try to contact Narumi again after he left because, he says, "we agreed that she (Narumi) would call me back."


BBM


Next, his parents and other family members took the stand. L'Est describes their testimonies as follows in their wrap-up of the day:

During an afternoon devoted to the personality of the accused, his parents and relatives described him as respectful, responsible and sociable. All are convinced of his innocence.

I forgive myself for not translating it all. A few snippets:

Humberto Zepeda (father) recalls Narumi's visit to Chile on holiday, when she was still in a relationship with her son. "I only met her for fifteen minutes. I couldn't talk to her because I didn't speak English or Japanese. However, I found her to be a very charming girl, very friendly." The separation? "Nicolas told me about his break-up with Narumi, because of the distance. They realised that it couldn't work out and reached a consensus to break up," he comments.

.....

The question comes back to the reason for the trip to Europe. This is necessarily a central and sensitive point in this legal case. Humberto confirms that he was not aware of his son's plans. "When he came back, he told me about his visit to his cousin's house, but didn't mention Narumi. As for the rest, I don't remember."

......

"When we heard about Narumi's disappearance through the media, Nicolas was the first to go and talk to the police, to say what he knew." But he didn't try to contact her," insists Mr Galley. "I don't know."

.....

On his return from Japan to Chile in October 2016, Nicolas Zepeda had joined a clinic specialising in behavioural disorders. The young South American explains "that he would have suffered a reverse culture shock," recalls Me Galley. For Humberto Zepeda, the idea was not to work on "serious" problems. A need for psychological support that was not linked to his break-up with Narumi, according to Nicolas Zepeda's father.

15:40 - Dialogue of the deaf between Me Schwerdorffer and Humberto Zepeda

An astonishing dialogue of the deaf continues between Mr Schwerdorffer - who is surprised that Nicolas did not try to contact Narumi after the announcement of her disappearance - and Humberto Zepeda, who prefers to insist on the attitude of his son, who had gone to the Chilean police to explain himself.

"Perhaps he is not contacting Narumi again because he knows that she cannot respond," said Schwerdorffer. "This statement is incorrect," replied Humberto Zepeda, "Narumi has disappeared and my family and I have been praying for her to return. We cannot believe in any other fate. She is missing.


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[JerseyGirl]

France: Chilean goes on trial over disappearance of Japanese ex-girlfriend | DW | 29.03.2022

 

[ZaZara]

L'Est Republicain, live blog

Affaire Narumi. Procès Narumi : vidéosurveillance et tâche de sang sur le campus universitaire, revivez la 2e matinée de débats

8 h 20. - The analysis of this first day that was rich in emotions

There were many tears yesterday in the Doubs Assize Court. Tears from the family of Narumi Kurosaki as well as from the Zepeda family.

The programme for this Wednesday

The morning will open with the hearing of a number of witnesses, notably the staff of the CROUS and CLA where Narumi was enrolled.

It will then be time for the investigators to speak. This is a pivotal moment in the trial. Nicolas Zepeda is obviously presumed innocent, but his lawyers will not want to miss questioning the police officers in an attempt, apart from the absence of a body, to shed light on possible shortcomings or inadequacies in the investigation. For them, Nicolas Zepeda was "in the wrong place at the wrong time". And the police investigations have neglected certain other leads, according to the Zepeda camp. This is what is at stake on the second day of the trial.

8 h 45. - Zepeda has arrived at the courthouse

The trial is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. The lawyers and the parties to the trial arrive at the courthouse in small groups. As on the previous day, Nicolas Zepeda was taken out of his cell and escorted by motorcyclists to the courthouse, sheltered behind the tinted windows of a van.
Narumi's mother and sister, still closely supported by their lawyer Me Galley, also took their seats in the courtroom.

9 h 05. - The hearing begins with a first witness

The hearing resumed at 9:05am with the hearing of the first witness of the day. This witness is Cédric Castor, 39 years of age, administrative manager at the University of Franche-Comté, responsible for international relations.

He recalled the context of Narumi's visit, which was part of an exchange programme with four other Japanese students. It was he who reported her disappearance to the police on 13 December 2016, after the CLA had expressed its concern about the student's absences.

When police asked him in February if Nicolas Zepeda was enrolled at the university, he confirmed that he was not.

Narumi was scheduled to start studying economics and management in January. At the time of her disappearance, she was finishing a four-month course in French, which she had started in August at the CLA (centre for applied linguistics) in Besançon.

A studious student, the Japanese student had not returned to class on 5 December. According to the witness, Narumi told a friend in a text message that she had to go to Lyon for a visa issue. This was surprising, given that her visa was managed by the Strasbourg consulate...

According to the university official who reported her disappearance on 13 December, Narumi "had just broken up with her French boyfriend, Arthur Del Piccolo: it was the CLA who told me this, according to an email printed on paper that she had written to a Korean friend."

In this message, Narumi reportedly wrote: "I had some problems I had a discussion with my boyfriend and I think we are going to break up. I damaged my passport and I have to go to Lyon to get a new one. I need some time, I think next week I will be better and back in class, thanks for your concern."

9 h 30. - Why did it take so long to report the disappearance?

Eight days passed between Narumi's disappearance and her being reported. Why wasn't this report filed earlier?" asked Advocate General Manteaux. "Especially since she had only missed 14 hours of classes in four months.

"I was only informed of this by the CLA on the 12th," replied the head of international relations at the university.

Was he worried from the start?

I was a bit worried because the CLA was worried, but the police seemed to be reassuring, they indicated that the student was of age.

As for the fact that he indicated that Narumi's handbag was no longer in her room, questions Me Laffont, the defence lawyer? "It was the CROUS who gave us this information..."

BBM

 

[ZaZara]

L'Est Republicain, live blog, continued

9 h 40. - Growing concern at the university

It was the turn of Nicole Poirie, a French teacher at CLA, to take the stand. One of her students in 2016 was Narumi Kurosaki.

Turning briefly to the Kurosaki family, Nicolas Poirie says: "Narumi was a very bright student, the brightest Japanese student we had. I remember someone who was very involved, rarely absent, who helped others. I keep the image of a sunny, smiling person, who felt good about herself.

The teacher recounts, in detail, the growing concern of CLA staff due to Narumi's absence from 5 December 2016.

"When on Monday 12, I see that Narumi is still not here, I go back to my coordinator." To urge him to contact the police. This collective anxiety is fuelled by two things, she says, "Narumi's usually very involved temperament" and "the very strong concern of her Japanese friends, including Shintaro, who had already gone to the police. Someone like her would never have left her friends in such a state of worry."

9h45. - Those famous messages, frankly it wasn't her".

Nicole Poirie spontaneously mentions the messages supposedly written by Narumi after her physical disappearance.

"These famous messages, frankly it wasn't her. The students showed me these messages. It may sound silly, but I remember that we had been working on the ability to narrate in the past tense, the correct ordering of the past participle, and there was an omission in the ordering. The typical mistakes of a Japanese student are not like that..."

"These strange things increased the anxiety and ruled out a voluntary departure, which she would not have done without warning because she is too respectful of her friends. She was very considerate towards others."

Nicole Poirie points out other inconsistencies in some of the wording. Notably the phrase "Thank you for caring", which is found in several messages sent by Narumi's accounts to her relatives.

10 h. - The evaporated Japanese

The Kurosaki family's lawyer talks to Nicole Poirie about Narumi's behaviour. "Once, I saw her sad, but I don't know what it was all about. Japanese students are often reserved. Narumi was quite the opposite, I had the feeling that she was living life to the full, with a real joie de vivre."

Me Galley evokes the phenomenon of the "evaporated", those people in Japanese society who suddenly disappear from one day to the next. A thesis that the defence may wish to support later in the trial...

"This is one of the hypotheses discussed with a colleague who knows Japanese culture well. These evaporators are suffering from personal shame, from debt, and go into hiding. Narumi was not hiding. She had plans, she was in a good place."

Me Galley evoked the arguments of the defence, according to which Narumi could have been harassed on her arrival in Besançon, because of her Asian face. And that she could have had a bad experience of it. A situation that Nicole Poirie does not believe.

The public prosecutor, Etienne Manteaux, spoke of Narumi's potential for seduction, noting that she had apparently been approached by several boys since her arrival in Besançon.

"She was someone who, through her smile and her behaviour, was attractive. She radiated. She had this magnificent smile, but it was not provocative, in my opinion she was not a teaser," according to Nicole Poirie.

10 h 15. - The defence puts the teacher to the test

Nicolas Zepeda's defence comes back to the possible difficulties of integration of Narumi.

Me Benedetti has a question: "Would you be the person Narumi would have come to see if she had encountered problems on her arrival in Besançon? The teacher answers frankly: "No, I don't think so. I wouldn't have been the most suitable person for her."

Me Benedetti lists some of the elements described by Arthur del Piccolo, Narumi's French boyfriend, who points out episodes that Narumi would have experienced badly. "I still have the feeling that Narumi was happy to be there, that she was taking part in a lot of activities, far from locking herself up in her room," Nicole Poirie adds.

The defence advances its pawns on the chessboard. Me Laffont took over and quoted written messages from Narumi to her lover Arthur del Piccolo, which contained a few mistakes in French. "So yes, she did make mistakes", observes Mr Laffont, to better shake the conviction of the teacher, who a few moments earlier considered that the messages sent to Narumi's relatives, beyond 5 December, had not been written by the Japanese woman.


BBM

 

[ZaZara]

L'Est Republicain, live blog

10 h 20. - The first person to enter the room of the missing student

The third witness of the morning, Jonathan Cottet, 40, head of the accommodation department of the Besançon CROUS, was the one who, at the request of the CLA where Narumi was studying, went into the room of the missing Japanese student on Monday 12 December 2016.

"The door was well locked, I opened the curtains. I found a room in very good condition, very tidy and I informed the CLA to say that it was not the room of someone who wanted to leave."

It was as if she had left for her day of classes.

"The fridge was full. There were clothes, course materials, hygiene products and make-up... I stayed between 5 and 10 minutes. It was a 9 m² room, so all became quickly obvious. Her laptop was stored in a bag and there was also her handbag."

"The video recordings?" President Husson asks. "We have two cameras, one of which is aimed at the laundry basement and the other at the main entrance to the building," the campus guard replied.

But none of them record the emergency exits, the green areas and the paths.

"The quality of the video recordings was very average. You can make out silhouettes, but it's more complicated to recognise a person."

Asked by Me Galley, the lawyer for Narumi's family, about the photographs he took during his visit to the room - which show her brown handbag - Jonathan Cottet confirms: "Yes, this is one of the photographs I took and gave to the police.

10 h 45. - The place where Nicolas Zepeda parked in the university car park

The lawyer for the civil party, Me Schwerdorffer, emphasised that eleven car parks were spread around the eleven hectares of the university estate. The prosecution and the civil party underlined that, from the place where Nicolas Zepeda said he had parked, "you can perfectly see the entrance to the Théodore Rousseau residence" in Narumi, between the IUT and the Besançon Observatory.

However, "when you arrive from the city centre", says Mr Schwerdorffer, "you have immediate access to the other four car parks, which are the most obvious. And it is only afterwards that you can get to the one where the accused parked, along the IUT.

11 h. - Security on the campus in question

Questioned by the public prosecutor about the security within the eleven hectares of the university estate for which he is responsible, Jonathan Cottet indicated: "We have security guards who make rounds every night."

As for the usefulness of the cameras, whose recordings, overwritten after two weeks, were of very poor quality? "When there were problems in the car parks, we provided them to the police," answers Jonathan Cottet. Before admitting: "But we rarely saw the number plates...".

Since then? "We have modified and developed the video protection system.

Mr. Laffont is interested in the circulation of vehicles within the perimeter of the campus, which is only reserved for CROUS staff, says Jonathan Cottet.

A detail that is not a detail. If Nicolas Zepeda had left the Rousseau building with Narumi, one question remains: what route would he have taken? On foot or by car?

This leads Mr Laffont to raise the subject of the CCTV images, essential in the eyes of the defence, which Jonathan Cottet had handed over to the police at the time. How did he select them? asks Mr Laffont. "I don't remember the details, the cameras were given to me on request", says the manager.

Why wait until 22 December to hand over these images? "I don't remember. Nicolas Zepeda's lawyer is still surprised that the cameras around Arthur del Piccolo's building, the police's prime suspect at the time, were not provided to the police.

Jacqueline Laffont is interested in the cameras in the car parks surrounding the campus. "I don't remember if I was asked for these images," replied Jonathan Cotter. "These questions will be asked of other people," Jacqueline Laffont smiles bitterly.

"Those cameras were not requested", confirms the public prosecutor, "the investigators were interested in the Rousseau building and when the interest in those cameras became apparent, the images were no longer available."

11 h 15. - Blood or paint?

Six traces of blood were found in front of the back exit of the residence where Narumi was staying, Jacqueline Laffont continued.

"I was told it was animal blood," reacts Jonathan Cottet.
"It appears that a DNA search was carried out, and it appears that it is your DNA..." There was a flutter and a slight murmur in the room.
"No, why would there be my blood?", Jonathan Cottet asks softly.

The public prosecutor stood up to intervene. It's a mistake on my part," he said. It's a mistake on my part, which I wrote in my indictment", according to Etienne Manteaux. The moment is confusing. Sitting in his box, Nicolas Zepeda tries to intervene by asking his interpreter, who complains about it and points out the situation to the president. Nicolas Zepeda is asked to remain silent for the moment.

Me Laffont takes over: "These are strange paints, as they contain Mr Cottet's DNA. In the place where we are told Narumi left". Jonathann Cottet tries to find an explanation: "I live on the spot, I often go around the buildings. I went by a few times after the fact. My DNA is all around the campus.

"In any case, it is not Narumi Kurosaki's DNA," the president of the trial court observes.

11 h 25. - In Narumi Kurosaki's room

The photos of room 106 of the Théodore Rousseau residence, on the Besançon campus, scroll across the screen in the courtroom.

On the morning of 12 December, after 9am, when he entered the room, the campus caretaker had opened the curtains. "I don't think I turned on the light, it was a beautiful day and the natural light was enough."

However, Narumi's French boyfriend, who had been loitering uneasily around the building since the Japanese student disappeared eight days earlier, said he saw the light at around 7.45am. "There is no way that I could have done that," said the campus caretaker. "I drive my children to school and I couldn't be there before 8.30am.


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11 h 35. - Narumi's friend testifies

The fourth witness of the morning, Lina Zakhari, 27, a pharmacist, arriving from Bretagne where she now lives.

"I met Narumi in September 2016, we both joined the university dance troupe and that's how we got to know each other better." The two met on Wednesday evenings and Sunday afternoons at the student centre, in preparation for a performance in mid-December.

On 4 December, the day before Narumi disappeared, they both took part in the class. "I dropped her off at the bus stop near the university restaurant on the Bouloie campus and I saw her heading towards her residence. That was the last time I saw her."

As for what Narumi was wearing that day? "Her black dance leggings and a white shawl of some kind. She had forgotten her shoes at the previous rehearsal and brought them back in a bag."

The trial court then shows a photo taken a few hours later, in the evening, at 6.07 pm. Narumi is wearing a black scarf and a blue coat. It is a selfie taken by Nicolas Zepeda. He is seen radiantly next to a smiling Narumi.

President Husson read out the statement of Narumi's dance teacher who said she had been contacted by a young man who had introduced himself as Narumi's boyfriend. He wanted to know if Narumi had come to class, said it was important. The teacher recognised the young man in question: he was Arthur Del Piccolo, the Japanese student's boyfriend from Besançon.

11 h 45. - Adjournment of the hearing

The president adjourned the hearing and gave orders to meet at 1pm to get to the heart of the matter concerning the investigation, with the much-awaited deposition of police officer David Borne, who was in charge of the investigations.


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En direct. Procès Narumi : "La seule et unique piste mène à Nicolas Zepeda", retrouvez la déposition détaillée de l'enquêteur

13:00 - The police investigation is put under the microscope by the court

The hearing resumes on time for one of the key moments of this trial: the deciphering of the investigative work carried out by the police over several years, around the disappearance of Narumi. An effort that spanned three different continents.

For the defence, it is now or never to test the solidity of these investigations, which brought Nicolas Zepeda to the dock this Wednesday in Besançon. The debates are expected to be both dense and possibly very confrontational.

1.15pm - Update on the preliminary findings

Dressed in a black suit and blue shirt, David Borne, 39, police brigadier, will now relate the investigation since December 15, 2016.

It has been 10 days since Narumi was last seen or heard from and her relatives say they have received incoherent messages from her. She makes unusual syntax errors and no longer responds to correspondence in Japanese. And then there were the screams heard in the university residence during the night of 4 to 5 December...

First observations in the student's room: the fridge is full, the dishes are still dirty, her only winter coat is still there, as well as her computer and her handbag, with €565 inside.

The only things missing are her suitcase, her phone, her passport and a blanket on the bed. But a search with the Blue Star, a blood trace detector, yielded nothing conclusive.

13:20 - Narumi's relationship with Arthur Del Piccolo, her boyfriend from Besançon

Narumi's diary was also left in her room. It tells the investigators that she has planned a dance gala, outings and a trip with Arthur Del Piccolo, her boyfriend from Besançon, an engineering student.

While some of the student's relatives say that Narumi was in the middle of a separation, Arthur Del Piccolo claims that he is still in a relationship with Narumi. They have been together since mid-October and plan to spend Christmas together at his parents' house. The train tickets have even been booked.

A neighbour of Narumi's describes the young man as very much in love. And she? "Only in love. She had a strong temperament." Narumi also told her friends about Nicolas Zepeda, her ex. She told them that he had gone so far as to block her Facebook accounts. That she felt better with Arthur than with Nicolas.



13:25 - Arthur Del Piccolo becomes rapidly alarmed

David Borne details the hearing of Arthur Del Piccolo, Narumi's official boyfriend at the time of her disappearance. He and Narumi had many plans together, the police officer said.

On 4 December 2016, Del Piccolo met Narumi at 4pm, a kiss, nothing unusual. Arthur wrote to her that same evening. The message from his girlfriend is as follows: "I was waiting for this question, I need to talk to you face to face but not tonight, I'm tired, it may be something serious for me, but not for us." We know today, with hindsight, that Narumi was in the presence of Nicolas Zepeda. Arthur, however, does not know this.

With no clear news from Narumi the next day, Del Piccolo became concerned and on the evening of 5 December he went to Narumi's door, where he was joined by friends. "He knocks on the door, tries to call her, but gets no answer. They stand in front of the room because they are worried and finally go to see a guard. Just as they get to him, Del Piccolo receives an email from Narumi saying that she is not in her room, that she has met a man and will probably spend the night with him. Del Piccolo is obviously devastated."

1.30 pm - French boyfriend suspected

When Arthur Del Piccolo talks about Nicolas Zepeda, who was "stalking" her, the investigators think that it is impossible "that a Chilean would have travelled all over the world to hurt his ex-girlfriend. It is totally absurd."

"His speech seems too smooth, too prepared," the investigator said. "He is very precise in his speech, rather cold. So we focus our suspicions on him. We hesitate to take him into custody immediately. We only changed our minds because we had no material evidence. The fact that he had been dumped the same evening seemed too light, so we decided to explore his mobile phone and computer. We put a tap on him...".

The next day, the search yielded nothing. The blood test and the study of the bills show nothing.

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13:32 - The episode of the "terror" cries

David Borne details the gigantic neighbourhood investigation carried out in the Narumi university residence, in the early days of their investigations. About fifteen witnesses mention screams during the night of 4 to 5 December 2016.

"They were so scared that the students did not dare to get out of bed. Some hid under the duvet. The adjectives used are chilling.

"Terror", "pain", "anguish", "horror film"... "It looks like someone is being murdered", writes a young woman in a text message, which makes it possible to date this episode: about 3h20.

"We can only take the screaming seriously. It is obligatory: something happened that night in the residence. All the people who heard the screams were either on Narumi's floor or in the same column," David Borne explains clearly.

13:35 - A young man seen prowling the corridors

Narumi's neighbour, who heard "10 minutes of shrill screams, like in a horror film", said she had also seen a man hiding in the stairwell a few days earlier. "Twenty-ish, black gloves, black coat, slight moustache, he spoke English, American." Another witness spoke of a "young Hispanic man, hiding in the kitchen on the fourth floor."

13:40 - On the trail of Narumi to Ornans

David Borne discusses the telephone investigations, which enabled Narumi's route to be quickly traced. On 4 December, by picking up the signals of the relay antennas triggered by her telephone, the police followed the trail of the Japanese student in the vicinity of Arc-et-Senans, then in the Ornans area.

"The only thing you can do on a winter's evening in Ornans, which is a small town, is to eat in a restaurant. We decided to investigate all these restaurants. And we did well... That day, we arrived at La Table de Gustave with photos of Narumi and Arthur del Piccolo.

A waiter remembers welcoming an Asian customer. The employee finds a record of her visit in his computer system on 4 December, at times that correspond to Narumi's phone records.

"He tells us that the man she was with paid with a Chilean bank card. It clicked for us. We thought Del Piccolo was trying to deflect us to the Chilean ex-boyfriend. Finally, we realised that maybe the Chilean had indeed come to see her..." the investigator explains in detail.

The police understand that on their way back, the couple passed by the Mercureaux route, above Besançon. "We know that there is a 70 km/h speed camera on the way down, and for a foreigner, it is a trap. We questioned this radar and once again, luck was with us because Zepeda was flashed with a rental car, a Renault Scenic, which belongs to a rental agency. The rental contract was signed by a man named Nicolas Zepeda.

13:45 - The rental car gives up its secrets

When the investigators recover the car rented by Nicolas Zepeda, it turns out that it has since been rented again. The next tenant complained about the condition of the vehicle: traces of mud, dirt in the cabin ... He had to clean everything from top to bottom. And one tyre was damaged, which he even had to change during his journey.

It turns out, however, that the accused had already reserved the vehicle from Chile on 17 November. He took possession of it in Dijon on 30 December and returned it on 7 December after driving 776 km.
The car is equipped with a Sim card that allows updates and works like a telephone. The investigators will thus be able to geolocate its route...

1.50pm - In the footsteps of Zepeda...

Guided by this rental car tracker, David Borne goes back in time, and the court of assizes with him, to slip into the steps of Nicolas Zepeda. "He arrives in Geneva on 29 November 2016, picks up his rental car on 30 November in Dijon at 5:17pm and buys a French SFR card," the investigator begins. On the same day, the Chilean took the motorway at 11:18pm, to exit at Besançon at 12:07am. "He arrived at 12:12am at the campus relay station, where he spent the night.

In the morning, he heads for the relay on Rue du Lycée, near the CLA where Narumi goes to school. Nicolas Zepeda then left for Dijon and its Toison d'Or shopping centre. "At 3.51pm, he buys a box of matches, a detergent spray and, more surprisingly, a 5-litre can of flammable product, used for auxiliary heating. He got back on the motorway at 4.13pm, exited at Dole and headed for a non-touristy area of the countryside at night. He stayed there for 2 hours and 42 minutes", David Borne added.

13:55 - Zepeda's itinerary

On 2 December, Nicolas Zepeda is on campus. The two witnesses who saw a young man hiding in the Narumi residence will formally recognise him. He took a hotel room that night in the Ornans establishment where he would bring Narumi back two days later to have dinner with her.

On December 3, he is back in downtown Besançon where he buys clothes. In the evening, he eats a sandwich and talks to the waitress about his Japanese friend... Narumi is also in the city centre at the time, with her boyfriend, Arthur Del Piccolo.

In the evening, Nicolas Zepeda is again in the area of the university residence. And all day long on the 4th... until the evening when he went to dinner with Narumi in Ornans, before driving her back to her university residence. "From then on", the investigator points out, "the vehicle did not move from Sunday 4 at 11pm until Tuesday 6 December at 4am. This indicates that he was with Narumi when the screams were heard in the university residence.

2pm - A return to Chile without Narumi

In front of the attentive jurors, David Borne continues his story with surgical precision. On 6 December at 4.23am, his car's ignition is switched on. "Nicolas Zepeda returned to exactly the same place where he had spent 2 hours and 42 minutes on 1 December. This time he spent 1.5 hours there, still at night. And there is still nothing to see in this area. What was he doing there?" the police officer pretends to wonder.

The Chilean returned to Dijon, handed in his vehicle on 7 December, went to Geneva by bus and took off for Barcelona, where he visited his cousin. Before heading for Chile, where he landed on 13 December. "At no time" on his way back, "Nicolas Zepeda is seen with Narumi".


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14:05 - Video surveillance in question...

On 16 December 2016, the police asked the Crous staff to retrieve the CCTV images. "We are interested in the two cameras in the Rousseau building," David Borne points out. The one at the back does not cover the emergency exit, "which is a pity". The police are also asking for the images of the two cameras posted near a car park.

"We don't know what we're looking for and it's physically impossible to ask for the cameras of the whole university," the investigator continued. "If we had asked for all the cameras of the Crous, we would still be there.

The investigators quickly realised that "these cameras are of mediocre quality".

2.10pm - Towards a first twist of fate?

David Borne is keen to detail a potentially very disturbing aspect. "I went back to the videos and I realised that a suspicious man appears on the image on 1 December at 00:32. He arrives behind the Rousseau building, dressed in a heavy black coat. He hides his face, obviously trying to watch what is going on in the flats," the police officer describes.

The investigator continues: "He is behaving suspiciously. As I continue my research, at 00:32, I realise that Nicolas Zepeda is on this campus. At 1:11am on the image, we see the same man again. Then later, we see him taking a picture of the front of the building. This shadow passes several times during that night, in an otherwise deserted area," according to David Borne.

2.15pm - Nicolas Zepeda's defence takes issue with the police officer's revelation

The announcement of the police officer goes off like a small bomb. "It's quite a big deal to learn about this at the hearing," the president of the trial court says.

The defence side is outraged... An incident is imminent. "If we decide to have an operation outside the procedure six years later, I want it to be recorded by the clerks. We have made requests for documents concerning these video surveillance operations, which have always been found wanting. On the second day of the hearing, we have an investigator who is continuing his investigation outside the procedure!" Mr Laffont said.

"If we look at these images, I want us to look at all the cameras, in their entirety, and not those selected by the police officer outside the procedure", continued Nicolas Zepeda's lawyer, Me Laffont. "I had never seen that in my life! We have an investigation that has lasted five years and here we are being told about checks outside the procedural framework.

2.17 pm - Lively discussions break out between the lawyers

For Me Schwerdorffer, lawyer for the civil parties, this is a false debate. These images must be viewed by the court of assizes. "The procedure is respected, and all that counts is the demonstration of the truth and I cannot believe for a moment that the defence has not examined this document in its entirety," said Schwerdorffer. "The fact of viewing all the cameras is tantamount to asking for a postponement of the trial: it will take us four full days. What guides these debates is loyalty. There has been no manipulation", the lawyer for Arthur Del Piccolo explains.

Mr Laffont tries to cut off the other lawyer. "That's enough, Maître Laffont", replies Mr Schwerdorffer, "I understand that you are annoyed by what we are going to see...".

The lawyer for the Kurosaki family, Me Galley, continues: "From the moment that the defence had been in possession of these images for many months, that it had the possibility of examining them, I think that it is in everyone's interest to be able to see for themselves what they are about.

Unsurprisingly, the same opinion was expressed by the public prosecutor. "What is the defence afraid of?" Etienne Manteaux asked, recalling that these images, recently discovered by the investigator on "his working copy", have been "in the possession of the defence for 18 months".


14:20 - The recordings will be viewed

Defence counsel, Me Laffont believes that these "new explorations of the investigator" do not respect the adversarial nature of the proceedings. Speaking of "a wild copy kept by the investigators", she said she had prepared this file according to the elements of the case. "It is not a question of me opposing the manifestation of the truth, which is what we are all seeking", she observed, "but it is intolerable and prejudicial to the rights of the defence that 6 years after the beginning of the investigation, exploitations are made by investigators who are no longer in charge of the investigation".

Stressing that the video recordings in question are part of the sealed documents, and have therefore been communicated to the various parties, the president indicated that the recordings would be viewed during the debates.

14:30 - Shadow lurking behind the residence: Zepeda or not Zepeda?

The attention turns back to David Borne, who is invited to continue his speech. The police officer lists various passages in early December 2016 of this shadow, seen at the back of the famous campus building where Narumi Kurosaki lived. Often early in the morning, or at night.

"I would like to draw your attention to the fact that every time this suspicious individual passes by, Nicolas Zepeda is present on the university campus, as evidenced by the location of his vehicle and his phone. When Nicolas Zepeda is not on the campus area, on the other hand, we will never see a suspicious individual with his face hidden," the PJ investigator observed. "After 6 December (editor's note: the day Nicolas Zepeda left Besançon), we will never again see a man with a concealed face passing behind the building," David Borne adds.


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2.45pm - Disturbing messages

Regarding the usurpation of Narumi's social networks, with her family and friends suspecting that someone is sending messages in her place, with missing smileys, mistakes that don't look like her, etc., investigator David Borne indicates that her phone has not sent out any communication since 5 December at 9.32 pm, the time when her friends knocked on her door... and Nicolas Zepeda was supposed to be still in the room.

Narumi's family has also received messages indicating that she has met a new boyfriend, accompanied by a photo of Arthur Del Piccolo. Narumi's parents had already met him on a video call and Narumi had already sent them a photo.

Suspicions are therefore directed towards Nicolas Zepeda. He has been harassing her following their break-up. He blocked her Facebook accounts. And Narumi had a hard time severing ties.

And then there are the two Japanese students whom Nicolas Zepeda approached to have sentences translated into Japanese: "I'm taking a train to go on a trip, so I can't use the Wifi" or "I've just met a new boyfriend, I'm going on my own".

Two Japanese women who were asked by the accused around 15 December to delete these conversations by sending him a screen copy to prove it. This they did. And it is only after they have done so that he will explain to them that Narumi has disappeared and that he could be suspected.

2.50pm - When the police use Facebook to talk...

"As a result of requisitions to Facebook," David Borne continues, the police "obtained the certainty that Narumi's Facebook account connected on 10 December 2016 at 1:20 am through an IP address, that was used by Nicolas Zepeda's Google account on 11 December, while he was in Barcelona." According to the investigator, "this makes it possible to determine that these two accounts were in the same place, and therefore to clearly suspect Nicolas Zepeda of having used Narumi's Facebook account, despite the fact that she had not been able to make the journey to Spain with him.

Another disturbing element is the train ticket purchased through Narumi's bank account on 6 December, for a trip from Besançon to Lyon. This purchase was traced. It transited through an IP address in the Toison d'Or shopping centre in Dijon, "where Nicolas Zepeda was at that very moment", David Borne insists.

Narumi's Gmail account allowed the investigators to realise that it was synchronised in Santiago de Chile. And that its last connection with Narumi's mobile phone was on 12 December, seven days after her disappearance, in the Chilean time zone.

What's more, all the messages received up to 3 December "are all read and the box is very well kept", says the investigator. "But from 4 December they are all marked unread. Except for two: the purchase of the Besançon - Lyon train ticket bought at the Toison d'Or in Dijon and the purchase of the VPN.

"We then understand that she is no longer the user of this account," continues David Borne. Not to mention the latest Google search: "A car wash search. However, Narumi has neither a car nor a driver's licence."


3 p.m. - The "chilling" video of Nicolas Zepeda

Chief Inspector David Borne arrives at the well-known episode of the video. The one posted by Nicolas Zepeda in September 2016 on Dailymotion, on the internet. A "chilling" video, says the police officer.

"He is facing the camera and addressing Narumi Kurosaki. It is clearly a threatening video. He accuses her of - and I quote - doing bad things that require her to follow certain conditions, and that she has to pay a little for what she has done, and take responsibility for it... The tone is really chilling and Zepeda gives her an ultimatum of a fortnight."

Via Zepeda's Google account, the police unearthed discussions between Narumi and Nicolas Zepeda, some time before the Japanese woman left for Besançon. In particular, a long message from the Japanese woman, who tells him that she loves him, but that she must leave him. In these messages, says David Borne, Zepeda "almost threatens her, he manipulates her, for example by taking back all her gifts, takes her computer screen so that she can no longer use it. The relationship is really tense. But they are still together when she goes to France.

15:05 - A very peculiar relationship

Once Narumi is in France, she and Zepeda have a particularly tense relationship from a distance. On 5 September, we find a letter with an alarming tone. It was the first part of his comminatory video: "I feel betrayed", wrote the accused. "You took my trust and destroyed it. This is the fifth time you have asked me for forgiveness this week. When you decided to go to France you told me I could trust you.

On 6 September, he sends her his conditions: "The price for you is that you become the best girl from now on." This is followed by a series of prescriptions ("you will never get angry, you will never ask for anything, you will never contest anything", etc.) which reflect the pressure that Nicolas Zepeda exerted on Narumi from a distance.

3:07 p.m. - A couple consumed by distance

David Borne focuses on Skype conversations between the lovers, from 5 September to 8 October 2016. "The tone is aggressive on both sides," the police officer tells. Nicolas Zepeda asks Narumi "to delete guys", in reality men from her Facebook account. One of them is Arthur Del Piccolo. He insists, she refuses. "I'm going to lose my patience, Narumi," he writes.

We also learn that Narumi wanted to work in Besançon, to be financially independent. Nicolas Zepeda, on the other hand, plans to come and find a job in the Doubs. "He expresses his desire to join her, but each time Narumi refuses, she has no desire for him to join her," explains the PJ investigator.

3.10pm - Narumi's supposed pregnancy

At the heart of this couple in distress, and therefore at the heart of this judicial case, is information that will not fail to challenge. "We discovered that Narumi was potentially pregnant when she arrived in France," David Borne explains, before quoting word for word the exchanges between the Japanese woman and Nicolas Zepeda on this subject.

"I will never forget that you got me pregnant, you never feel any responsibility for this pregnancy, I can conclude that you are an ," Narumi wrote. "I'm sorry you feel that way," Nicolas Zepeda replies, but according to David Borne, "at no point does Zepeda dispute this pregnancy that does not seem to surprise him."

Narumi: "It's going to hurt my body, you've taken my little one's future, and you don't feel any responsibility for it. Nicolas: "I didn't mean to hurt you, I make love to you because I love you." Narumi: "You should have the responsibility for my body forever". Nicolas blames her on the other hand "for never taking him to the doctor, remember, I told you to go to a doctor". Narumi: "You knocked me up, you just wanted to **** me. I'm going to ask you for money if I have a problem with my uterus", before concluding: "*advertiser censored** you, I really hope you have a problem with your d***."

Narumi pregnant when she arrived in Besançon? Pregnant even when she disappeared? "The state of pregnancy could never be verified or explained," David Borne says.


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3.20 p.m. Zepeda's Spanish stopover

The investigator now turns to Nicolas Zepeda's stay in Spain, at his cousin's house in Barcelona, where he arrived on 7 December. Nicolas called him the day before, on the 6th. He told him that he had just finished a congress in Geneva and that his flight back to Chile was only on the 13th.

When the cousin asks him about his girlfriend Narumi, Zepeda replies that he has never seen her again, and that he is very happy with a new girlfriend. Claiming problems with his father, he asks his cousin to be "discreet" about his stopover in Barcelona. A few days later, his mother tells him that Nicolas is a suspect in Narumi's disappearance.

On 31 January, the cousin decided to make new statements to the investigators. He revealed that he had spoken to Nicolas Zepeda who had implied that he should say as little as possible. He quoted some curious phrases uttered by the accused during his visit to Barcelona. He asked him questions about death. Showed interest in hangings, strangulations, etc. The cousin, a doctor, had not been suspicious.

3.30 p.m. - An obsession of Zepeda with his "rival" Del Piccolo?

David Borne reports on the work of Japanese police analysts, who have examined the server of the University of Tsukuba. Narumi had an access code. "It was determined that during his presence in Japan, Nicolas Zepeda logged in 54 times between April and October 2016 with this code." In addition to the fact that about 100 of Narumi's private messages were read, the police counted 128 connections to Arthur Del Piccolo's Facebook profile. "This demonstrates his obsession with Arthur Del Piccolo," David Borne concludes.

15:45 - The disconcerting answers of the accused

As for the genetic analysis that could show that Nicolas Zepeda went to Narumi's room, the investigator cites his fingerprints on the cups and the mixed DNA of the two in several places in the university room.

As for his diversions to the south of Dole, on the morning of 6 December for an hour and a half, in the same area he had spotted two days earlier? He said he stopped to sleep in a church because he was tired. But when we checked, all the churches in the area were locked. Zepeda will backtrack. He will argue that it was a translation error. That his real statement was: "I slept next to a church."

His visit to the church of Saline Royale d'Arc-et-Senans, on Sunday at 6pm, in front of which he took a photo at 6.07pm with Narumi, all smiles? He was unable to visit there because they had been closed since 5pm.

As for the incongruous purchases made by Nicolas Zepeda on his arrival in France, police brigadier David Borne now quotes the accused's disconcerting answers. The purchase of detergent? Because he had spilled food and drink in the rental car, a child walking by having scared him while he was eating.
The matchbox? To decorate his kitchen.
And the container full of flammable liquids? "I worked in car rental agencies in the United States," the defendant replied. "And the instruction was to always have a can of petrol in case the stations were too far away. Therefore, he would have bought the can for its container and not for its contents...

15:50 - The absence of a body, a big gap in the investigation

Brigadier David Borne has to comment on the weak point of the investigation: the fruitless search for the body. "I would like you to understand that we only have telephone towers and in the countryside they are far apart. This complicates the search. The area is "wooded forest, with streams running through it,", he describes.

"Searching the household waste incinerated in Besançon, physical beatings with dogs, nothing came of it. "In the Maylis case, the body would never have been found if the perpetrator had not given its location," David Borne recalls, before adding a detail on the performance of dogs specialising in searches. "Dogs can only find a body if there is organic matter left," he insists, "it doesn't work if there are only bones left. And if the body has been buried, I won't even mention it..."

3:55 p.m. - "We are certain that Narumi is dead"

"We have acquired the certainty that Narumi is dead", the investigator declares in conclusion after nearly three hours of testimony. "Since 4 December 2016, she has not given any sign of life, nor has she taken any administrative steps, nor has she been spotted anywhere, knowing that all the reports have been verified," he continued.

"The absence of bank transfers, the presence of cash in the handbag found in her flat, her joy of life, her many projects, the absence of letters as well as signs of depression or distress, exclude that she has attempted to kill herself."

Police Brigadier David Borne is convinced: "The sound of Narumi's voice was heard for the last time in the cries of suffering heard that night of 4 to 5 December 2016."

And he goes on to list the various evidences that lead him to believe that "Nicolas Zepeda committed the ultimate crime that night. The one and only trail leads to him."


BBM

 

[ZaZara]

Surprise after I finished the second half of Wednesday's hearing: there is a third half! So we're still on Wednesday with this live blog.

L'Est Republicain, live blog
En direct. Procès Narumi : les avocats de Nicolas Zepeda tentent de démonter l'enquête de la police, revivez la fin de cette 2e journée


16:15 - The investigator will now be questioned

The very detailed statement of the investigation is over. But police officer David Borne is not finished with the court, as he must now answer questions from each side. The president of the court of assizes, Matthieu Husson, is interested in the period during which the police had made Arthur Del Piccolo their number one suspect. He then revisited various points raised by the investigator.

In the dock, Nicolas Zepeda is dressed in a blue shirt and tie, as he was the day before. The Chilean remains seated, motionless and silent, face half hidden by his mask. He will speak later, and no one doubts that he will want to comment extensively on the policeman's words. Opposite him, about ten metres away, Narumi's sister Kurumi and her mother Taeko listen religiously to the proceedings, their translation headsets over their ears.

5 p.m. - The police do not believe in the thesis of the 'evaporated'

The hearing resumes, with David Borne still in the centre of the courtroom. One of the architects of the police investigation carried out over the last five years. Me Galley, Narumi's lawyer, checks with him that the hypothesis of Narumi's voluntary departure or suicide does not hold. For him, no doubt is possible.

The thesis of the evaporated, these people who sometimes disappear from Japanese society, is put back on the table. "Narumi doesn't fit into this category at all, she has integrated well in Europe", David Borne says. No worries, no debts, €565 in cash left in her room... "It doesn't fit at all."

Zepeda's version of the end of his peaceful relationship with Narumi? "It's inconsistent. This is a relationship that has become unhealthy."

17:15 - Nicolas Zepeda "spends days and nights on campus

Me Schwerdorffer calls the investigator, who is now a witness, to account. As soon as he arrived in Besançon, Nicolas Zepeda "spent entire days and nights on the campus. He did nothing else, did not visit anything," David Borne notes. On the campus, "he can spy on Narumi, he can spy on Arthur Del Piccolo, he can spot the cameras, he can do whatever he wants."

No one has spoken to Narumi physically or by phone since 4 December," he was asked. "That's exactly it. Schwerdorffer recalls that Narumi's last computer connection was on 13 December, from Santiago airport in Chile. "So Narumi was physically killed on 4 December, and virtually killed on 13 December," the lawyer pretends to wonder. The policeman nods.


17:30 - Videos: the investigator "tried a trick"

It was the turn of the general counsel Manteaux to question the investigator David Borne. Any regrets? "Not to have found the body. Afterwards, in terms of the investigation, I think we did the maximum. So no other regrets."

The videos, why did you only target those of Narumi's residence instead of capturing everything? "We quickly realised that, given the poor quality of the videos, we would not be able to identify anyone. Not to mention the sheer volume of footage. So we focused on the Narumi building. By the time we realised that Nicolas Zepeda might have parked in the car park up there, it was too late, the videos were gone.

"Alsot taking into account that at the beginning, it was not a crime scene but a disappearance," the public prosecutor observes.

As for what prompted the investigator to go back to the videos? "As I was preparing for this trial, I remembered that we have the dates that Mr Zepeda arrives on campus. I say to myself, 'Why don't we do a search on the first night? I give it a shot and I find this man who immediately looks suspicious." As he continued his research, he came to see him several times that night and in the following days. And not to reappear when the accused is no longer in Besançon.

Also remebering that Nicolas Zepeda was identified by two students living in the same university residence as the individual they had surprised, at times hidden in kitchens, at others hidden in a stairwell.

5:40pm - A macabre interrogation point on the nature of the student's death

The public prosecutor questions the manner of Narumi's death. "We know that Zepeda asked his cousin, afterwards, for details of the deaths by strangulation... We know that there was no blood by effusion in the room, we can exclude a death by stabbing. But what he did, I don't know for sure," David Borne comments.

The configuration of the campus implies that Narumi's body would have had to be dragged for 100 metres, Etienne Manteaux points out. "Narumi weighed 54 kilos, he is a man, he could have dragged her, carried her, there is nothing unfeasible. We've seen much more impressive cases. He had plenty of time to do it."

17:50 - The investigator believes that Nicolas Zepeda did hear the screams at night

A trial is a chess game. It is understandable that the public prosecutor is trying to defuse possible future attacks by the defence. He mentions the presence of a few drops of blood found in the room of Del Piccolo, the police's first suspect. "But they don't suggest a crime scene at all," David Borne dismisses. Etienne Manteaux tries to underline, through David Borne's words, to what extent this lead is a dead end.

The public prosecutor talks about the screams, which tore through the night of 4 to 5 December 2016 in Narumi's residence. "That night, it is only Narumi who disappears. No one else. The cry is a woman's cry. And Nicolas Zepeda did not hear these cries (editor's note: this is what the Chilean said to the investigating judge)? For me, there is no doubt that he heard. No doubt about it."

Some of the witnesses said they were terrified by the screams. "But just after the noise, everything was strangely quiet. Since it has calmed down, no one calls the police," says David Borne. What would the police have done," he is asked. "Colleagues could have knocked on doors. But I don't think Nicolas Zepeda would have opened the door to say hello. Legally, at night, they could not have opened the rooms."

6.10pm - Narumi welcomed Nicolas Zepeda "with a smile

The police officer and the public prosecutor together consider the possibility that Nicolas Zepeda had "a camouflage outfit", to carry out possible surveillances.

The messages allegedly sent by Narumi to Zepeda at the end of October 2016, which would motivate a diversion of the South American to Besançon? "No trace" in the Japanese woman's email box," David Borne notes.

The two of them then explored the workings of the couple. Of this man who had "a real family project" with Narumi, which ended in "very violent exchanges."

About their visibly chaotic break-up. With a question. Why did Narumi accept to spend time with Zepeda on December 4, 2016? "She received him with a smile, we don't dispute that. Narumi liked him and respects him. When she insults him (in previous messages, ed.), it's because Nicolas Zepeda is pushing her to the limit. It doesn't mean that she doesn't have affection for him. I think that day, the surprise of seeing him made her happy."

6:15 p.m. - A possible mysterious pregnancy

The pregnancy that Narumi had mentioned in an exchange of messages? "Without a body, it is impossible to say," the investigator replied to the public prosecutor. "We investigated and found no evidence of an abortion on her. But she could have still been pregnant at the time of her disappearance..."

18:30 - The "shudders" of the Spanish cousin

The "maximum discretion" requested on 3 January from his cousin in Barcelona, with whom he stayed between his departure from Besançon and his return to Chile? "He had talked about a problem with his father", explains the director of the investigation at the bar.

In the front row of the audience, the father of the accused gestures to say no. Humberto Zepeda, who is following the trial alongside his wife, headphones on his ears connected to the interpreters, is most expressive. He does not hesitate, here and there, to support in Spanish certain elements of the proceedings. Notably when the public prosecutor recalls that the Spanish cousin, who spontaneously came back to complete his statements to the police, declared that he had "shuddered" when he learned that the man he had sheltered was implicated in the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend Narumi.

6.30 p.m. - The hypothesis of a submerged body

The absence of a body comes back like a boomerang in this case. The public prosecutor evokes the Maëlys case, then the Fiona case, to underline how difficult it is sometimes to find a corpse. "There is a hypothesis that has not been mentioned to make a body disappear, it is to submerge it. Parcey (police search area, editor's note) is at the confluence of the Doubs and the Loue. Between Besançon and Dole-Crissey, there are 19 barrages," according to Etienne Manteaux. But then there are none, for 120 kilometres. "A body can therefore wander over dozens of kilometres, especially as we are in winter, during the flood period," the public prosecutor imagines.

Police officer David Borne adds: "It's not easy to find a body in the water, especially as it can get stuck in roots. The aquatic fauna can play its role, we have enormous catfish."

18:40 - "I really regret knowing you".

Several exchanges of text messages between Narumi and Nicolas Zepeda are now shown to the jury. One of them, from Narumi: "My God, you were so terrible, I really regret having known you". However, this did not prevent the missing woman from reconnecting with the accused some time later, when he turns up in Besançon.



BBM

 

[ZaZara]

L'Est Republicain, live blog

18:40 - The defence begins its work of undermining the investigation

The atmosphere in the room changes. The floor is given to the defence. Jacqueline Laffont compares the police officer's presentation to "an indictment" against Nicolas Zepeda. A way, for her, of implying that he lacked objectivity. The coming tug of war between the defence and the police officer is loaded with stakes. And potentially decisive for the rest of the trial.

"They are trying to blame Nicolas Zepeda for the delays in the investigation," she said, recalling that a first alert had been sent to the police on 10 December. A priori without immediate effect. "A failure that I cannot explain", the police officer David Borne soberly reacts.

Me Laffont wants to prove an initial lack of seriousness and rigour. "This is the first time I have seen so many visits to the room of a missing person", the criminal lawyer says, listing four visits "outside the investigation". Including the one on 12 December 2016. Arthur del Piccolo is formal, he says he saw "a silhouette" at 7:45. "A mystery visit", Jacqueline Laffont summarises. David Borne: "It disturbed us, but we have no explanation. Obviously, as investigators, we enter a scene that we would like to freeze. This is what we did on 15 December, when the Criminal Investigation Department was called in."


7.05pm - Video surveillance in the hot seat

The defence is now trying to destabilise the investigator on the issue of video surveillance. "A crucial evidence," underlined Mr Laffont underlines and remoinds him that "until you have seen them, you cannot know that they are of poor quality". " Oh yes, we can! " the leader of the investigation retorts. "Because when we ask the CROUS staff, we ask them to show us what it looks like live."

The fact remains that the investigators only asked for those marking the residence where Narumi's room was located and those giving access to it. "Wasn't it simpler and more interesting to look at the wider area? "Materially, it was impossible to do so," replied the police officer. "When you see that four cameras make 745 gigabytes and that it takes a week to give them to us...".

"In a case of this importance, the game was worth the candle, wasn't it?"
"With hindsight, yes, that is obvious."


7.10pm - The trail of the boyfriend from Besançon

The defence now questions the director of the investigation about the involvement, initially, of Arthur Del Piccolo, the engineering student who was then Narumi's boyfriend in Bisceón. "We searched his house, we recorded his movements, we tapped his phone for two months... It didn't produce anything," Brigadier David Borne recalls.

Arthur Del Piccolo will be heard during the second week of the trial, on Wednesday 6 April, by videoconference as he now lives in Japan.


7.20pm - Little chance that the missing suitcase could contain Narumi's body

Me Laffont wishes to reiterate certain evidences linked to the discoveries in Narumi's room 106, with the stated aim of "deconstructing"... To deconstruct the idea that Narumi left without a case, the lawyer assumes. Me Laffont mentions in particular the "possibility" of a second handbag... "Narumi left without the handbag she regularly used," David Borne says. The same remark about a pair of shoes, that would be missing from the inventory. The police officer finds nothing wrong with this.

The question of the famous missing suitcase also arises. With a fantasy floating around in this case, that Narumi's body could have been hidden in this suitcase. "Indeed, it seems complicated to me," police officer David Borne says. This scenario - once considered by the public prosecutor - seems to be in doubt. As for digging a hole to bury a body... "We are in winter, the ground is hard, it takes more than two hours", Me Laffont comments, referring to the period of time during which Nicolas Zepeda had remained motionless, at night, in a remote area near Dole.

19:30 - An 8/10 resemblance

As regards the verification of the various reports of Narumi that reached the investigators following her disappearance on 29 December at 5.40pm, a woman explained that she had met her on her way to the Super U toilets.

She described "a young woman who seemed to be afraid and was hiding. There was no one else in the toilet. She was wearing a navy blue coat, her hair was dyed medium brown...". In short, for her, "she was the girl in the photograph. On a scale of 1 to 10, how close did she think she was? "At 8", replied the author of the report.
So, says Me Laffont to the investigator? "We sent the gendarmes to check. The videos of the Super U were examined, it was not Narumi.

7.45pm - According to the defence, other leads were ignored

The defence now mentions two other elements that it considers important and that it found on the CCTV extracts.

"On 6 December at 4.17am and 4.40am, at a time when Narumi could have gone out, we see a car enter at 4.17am through the main entrance," notes Mr Laffont. "Yes, a grey Clio," the investigator replied. "It was then identified as belonging to a woman working at the CROUS".

"And that same night at 4.40am, a man was seen passing by. And where did he go? "Under the residence, behind the Rousseau building," the investigator acknowledged. "But he cannot be identified! The cameras do not allow us to identify anyone. Mr. Laffont replies: "Didn't this lead at least deserve to be clarified? The director of the investigation explained that at the time, it was not he who examined the videos.

The conclusion of the defence was that the focus was already on the guilt of Nicolas Zepeda and that all other leads were ignored.

20:00 - The videos will be viewed

The president has now invited the director of the investigation to take the stand again when the videos he mentioned during his testimony will be shown. The videos provoked the ire of the defence, as the investigator explained that he had watched them while preparing his statement and had then noticed a silhouette of a man lurking around the Narumi university residence while Nicolas Zepeda's vehicle was parked near it.

Presiding Judge Husson then reads the testimony of the woman working at the CROUS who accompanied Narumi's two Japanese friends, who were worried that they had not heard from her. On 10 December, she entered the room with them and the night watchman who had a pass. "We looked everywhere," the woman in question said. "I noticed a bag lying at the foot of the desk. Her bed was only covered with a fitted sheet, there was no sheet or blanket..."

20:05 - The hearing is suspended and will resume tomorrow.

BBM

 

[ZaZara]

L'Est Republicain, live blog

20:20 - "This day has allowed us to shed light on the weaknesses of Nicolas Zepeda's defence".

For Randall Schwerdorffer, this day has allowed to lift a part of the weaknesses of Nicolas Zepeda's defence. The lawyer for Narumi's French boyfriend cited the testimony of a woman who recognised Narumi in a shop toilet a month after her disappearance. "I think she is still there! I am regularly contacted by people who tell me that Narumi is alive, who want to give me her address, and God knows she lives in a lot of different places now!

Regarding the revelation of the policeman, who would have identified Nicolas Zepeda on video surveillance images a few days before Narumi's disappearance, in the form of a suspicious individual hiding his face and taking photos: "what is interesting is to see the phenomenal amount of time Nicolas Zepeda spent on campus, opposite Narumi's place of residence. (...) he actually came to spy on her, to find out what she was doing, before meeting her 'by chance' on 4 December." A meeting that was far from random, according to the lawyer.

20:40 - A "damning" day for the accused

For Sylvie Galley, lawyer for Narumi's family, the day was "devastatingg" for the accused. The police officer's presentation "contradicted point by point everything that Nicolas Zepeda may have said," she believes.

As for the strategy of the defence? "It has clung to points of detail which we are trying to transform into elements of doubt when they do not hold up. A way of "destabilising an investigator who has done his job very well," according to Mr Galley. It is very painful for Narumi's family," the lawyer added. "They feel a form of anger, to see that he is able to look at them, to call Narumi's mother by her first name, challenging her."

21:00 - Judicial debates of a rare intensity

Everyone was in agreement on Wednesday evening in the courthouse square. It was a day of rare intensity that the Doubs Assize Court had just witnessed. A colossal amount of information was delivered to the jurors by a man placed at the heart of the arena. David Borne, the head of the investigation.

His presentation in the form of an "indictment", as the defence put it, clearly devastated Nicolas Zepeda, surrounded by a multitude of incriminating evidence. His lawyers tried to reveal certain flaws in this very dense block of investigations.

Sitting in his box, mask on his face, Nicolas Zepeda did not say a word on Wednesday. He will however have the floor on Thursday, when he will be questioned on the substance of the case.


BBM



IMO the fate of Nicolás Zepeda was already sealed when Chile decided to extradite him.

 

[ZaZara]

L'Est Republicain, live blog

Affaire Narumi. Procès de Nicolas Zepeda : l'audience se transporte au Japon, à 10.000 km de Besançon


Trial of Nicolas Zepeda: the hearing moves to Japan, 10,000 km from Besançon

Five years after the mysterious disappearance of Narumi Kurosaki, the third day of the trial promises to be decisive, this Thursday, with the questioning of Nicolas Zepeda. But before this key moment, the Besançon court of assizes will question several of Narumi's friends in Japan, by video and with the help of interpreters.

The international dimension of the trial of Nicolas Zepeda, accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend Narumi Kurosaki, took a very concrete turn this Thursday morning with the organisation of the first video conferences with foreign countries.

The courtroom was projected 10,000 km away, with a direct connection to a court in Tokyo, Japan. Three of Narumi Kurosaki's close friends were called to testify from there.

Six interpreters in the courtroom

An exceptional case requires exceptional resources. The "Grand Trial" label granted to the event by the Ministry of Justice was accompanied by a substantial budget.

Two groups of interpreters - Japanese on one side, Spanish on the other - were hired and equipped with microphones and headphones, in order to translate in real time the words of Nicolas Zepeda, his parents, and later Narumi's sister and mother, and the witnesses by videoconference from the other side of the world. The overall cost of the translation operation is approximately 100,000 euros.

A technical director to coordinate logistics

The role of the interpreters, who are the voices in the shadows, is essential to the success of this trial, which is definitely out of the ordinary. In front of two clocks recently hung on the wall, one set to the Tokyo time zone (+7 hrs), the other to the Santiago time zone (-5 hrs), a giant screen was installed this morning in the courtroom. It was also equipped with cameras and microphones for two other broadcasting rooms set up in the Besançon courthouse for the press and the public.

This logistical merry-go-round is orchestrated on site by a technical manager, installed in a corner of the courtroom, who also monitors the entire proceedings.

A look at these written messages from Narumi, that raise questions

From Tokyo, Miharu Kimura, sitting in front of a camera installed in a Japanese courtroom, started the third day of the trial. The three Japanese students heard on Thursday were, like Narumi, in Besançon in 2016.

Miharu recounts the growing anxiety, following the disappearance on 5 December 2016. And her feeling that something "gloomy" had happened on 10 December when she finally entered Narumi's campus room, looking for explanations. Miharu also details her lack of understanding of the few messages Narumi allegedly sent in French during that period, when they were communicating in Japanese.

According to the investigation, these famous messages were written by Nicolas Zepeda, in order to virtually keep his already dead ex-girlfriend alive. An interpretation strongly contested by the Chilean's lawyers.

"After the break-up, Narumi was afraid" of Nicolas Zepeda

Ayana Tsuchiya takes over from her. Not very talkative, no doubt intimidated, she recounts in few words those fateful days of December 2016. Long questions, short answers.

Kaori Nishida provides the sequence. She remembers an evening of "confidences" with Narumi.

"She told me that her Facebook account had been hacked by her ex-boyfriend (editor's note: Nicolas Zepeda). After the break-up, Narumi was afraid of him."

When asked about Narumi's possible depressive tendencies, Kaori is quite definite: "No, she had a specific goal, a project in coming to study in France."


A photo of Narumi on her mother's chest

Sitting on the civil parties' bench, Taeko and Kurumi Kurosaki, Narumi's mother and sister, do not miss a single word, their eyes fixed on the giant screen. Since the opening of the trial, Narumi's mother has held a pouch decorated with flowers to her chest. Sometimes she caresses it. Inside, a photo of her missing daughter.

Glued to her, Kurumi frantically takes notes in small notebooks so as not to miss anything. So as not to forget anything. Because in the unbearable absence of her sister, remembering is the only thing she can do.

Nicolas Zepeda will explain all the facts

Dressed in his white shirt, sitting in the dock, Nicolas Zepeda also listens to the morning's exchanges without flinching. The calm before the storm: this Thursday afternoon, the first complete interrogation on the facts is scheduled. Nicolas Zepeda will have to comment on the numerous evidences of the case detailed the day before by the director of the investigation. A crucial moment in the trial... And a possible turning point?


BBM

 

[ZaZara]

L'Est Republicain, live blog, afternoon

En direct. Procès Narumi : vidéo de l'ultimatum, jalousie et emprise au cœur des débats, revivez la 3e journée


13 h 20. - Towards an interrogation in several rounds

The afternoon will open with a first round of questioning of Nicolas Zepeda. Although the accused had the opportunity to express himself freely on Tuesday, the first day of the trial, the questions mainly concerned his personality and the love affairs of his relationship with Narumi. The tone will change. The court will now confront the South American with the objective realities of the investigation, a moment that is bound to be highly anticipated.

Two experts will then take the stand, a computer analyst who worked on Narumi's computer, and a doctor in charge of examining the Japanese student's medical file.

If the court plan is followed, the jurors will then turn to Nicolas Zepeda for a second round of questioning. In general, the Chilean is expected to be questioned regularly throughout his trial on the details of the investigation.


14 h 05. - The hearing resumes

The trial court has resumed. The hearing will resume, the president announced, summarising the words of the witnesses heard this morning.

He addressed Nicolas Zepeda. These witnesses "explain that you did not want to break up" with Narumi.

Another question from the president concerning these written messages about the change of passport apparently envisaged by Narumi, and his intention to change this passport in Lyon... all while Japan depends on the consulate in Strasbourg.

14 h 07. - Zepeda tries to make some nuances

The Chilean does not appear to answer the questions directly. "I never thought that Narumi would have the intention of hurting these people (editor's note: by lying to them). She is not that kind of person. She has family values.

"In relation to the witnesses" and their statements about their break-up, he continued, "you have to consider that they share Narumi's opinion. Her opinion. The question is why would she have this kind of opinion and why would she share it. And I have some ideas about that. Like me, she comes from a family that has made sacrifices. Her arrival in France allowed her to live something for herself. She wanted to feel that she was in control of this period, her departure from Japan and her arrival in France."


14 h 30. - Discussion about Narumi's allegedly "misleading" message

Matthieu Husson returns to the message, which has become suspicious in the light of events, received on 5 December 2016 by Arthur del Piccolo, Narumi's official boyfriend at the time. And this while Nicolas Zepeda was at the same time in the company of Narumi in her room. In this message, the student brutally announces to del Piccolo that she has met another man. "A lie?", the president wonders. "I don't understand why Narumi would say such a thing," Zepeda replies laconically.

The president repeated the accusation with difficulty, given the need for simultaneous translation. "I deny having written this message myself", says Zepeda, "the explanations this morning were clear", he continues. "I would like to be in Narumi's head to understand the reasons for this lie."

14 h 35. - The crucial scene of the evening of 5 December 2016

Matthieu Husson returns again and again to the messages sent by Narumi. In particular on the evening of 5 December 2016. A crucial moment...

Zepeda is then, according to his version, with the Japanese student, "in this 9m² room" the president of the court recalls, when Arthur del Piccolo and some friends are on the other side of the door. In search of Narumi. It was then that Del Piccolo received an e-mail from Narumi, telling him that she was in the city centre with another man.

"I saw her writing things but I cannot remember exactly," Zepeda says.

"She waved her hand at me to keep quiet."

"She was barefoot, which is traditional for them, she got up from the bed and looked through the peephole to see who was behind the door.

In his box, Nicolas Zepeda grabs his water bottle to rehydrate. The president does not let go of the subject: "Arthur del Piccolo explains that there was no noise in the room, the magistrate recalls.
"It was her wish not to make any noise. We were watching a film."
" There was sound?" "We had headphones".

Zepeda explains that he was also "reading a book on the bed" at the time. "I know Narumi, we have a certain complicity, I know her gestures. I knew that she would explain to me afterwards what was going on. That it was some students who were worried about her absence from class." Without telling him about Arthur del Piccolo, according to Zepeda.

14 h 45. - First exchange of arguments between Zepeda and Narumi's family's lawyer

President Husson hands over.

It is the Kurosaki family's lawyer's turn to take the microphone. Me Galley invited the accused to repeat himself, on what he thought of Narumi's moral integrity.
"A priori, Narumi does not lie", Nicolas Zepeda confirms.
The criminal lawyer is surprised. "But you constantly accuse her of lying in your statements. Why?"

"I tend to think that these are different things. On the face of it, I don't think she's lying. If there are things I don't understand..."

Nicolas pauses, mentioning possible translation errors. He launches into a brief discussion with the interpreter. "There are situations that don't fit with reality, and at this point I can say that this is not reality. It doesn't mean that she is lying.

Me Galley is confused. So is the whole courtroom. Zepeda suggests that Ms Galley consult a dictionary. "I know the definition of a lie," she says softly.

14 h 50. - I have no intention of lying", promises Nicolas Zepeda

"Do you ever lie, Mr Zepeda?"

"I don't intend to lie, I always try to do the right thing."

Me Galley asked him again about the false address in Lyon, given to the SFR shop when he arrived in France. "It wasn't me who filled in the form," the South American repeated, imagining that "this person (editor's note: the employee) filled in the form with an address she knew.

The devil is in the details... Me Galley knows this and goes back to an apparently anecdotal element. Nicolas Zepeda first said that Narumi was "barefoot" when she got out of bed on the evening of 5 December 2016. Then he said that she was "in socks". Zepeda recovers, mentioning a possibility: that Narumi had taken a shower, before putting her socks back on.
"We're asking you to remember a specific moment, not to make assumptions. Nicolas concludes: "Believe me, I'm doing my best...


BBM