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

[h=1]French police search forest for body of Japanese student[/h]

BESANCON, France: Police in eastern France searched a forest on Thursday (Jan 5) for the body of a missing Japanese student as a chilling video emerged in which a man thought to be her fugitive Chilean ex-boyfriend threatens her.

Narumi Kurosaki went missing in the city of Besancon, where she had been studying French, on the night of Dec 4.
French authorities believe the 21-year-old was murdered by her ex-boyfriend, who is believed to have fled to Chile, and have issued an international warrant for his arrest.

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Much More at link: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news...est-for-body-of-japanese-student/3417190.html

One year later, still unsolved http://www.estrepublicain.fr/editio...saki-reste-entier-enquete-crime-meurtre-japon

French LE strongly believes that Narumi was murdered

NARUMI KUROSAKI: THE SEARCH FOR HER REMAINS IS COMING TO AN END

L'Est Républicain
Affaire Narumi : les recherches du corps touchent à leur fin

A year and a half after her disappearance, Narumi Kurosaki's body has still not been found. The search for her remains was relaunched at the end of 2017 and has been completed. Chile, on the other hand, lifted the ban on the suspect from leaving the country. "This poses no difficulty," the Besançon parquet reassures.

The perfect crime? Some ask themselves the question, but for the Besançon public prosecutor's office as for the investigators of the judicial police, the reality of this case is quite different: however brilliant he may be, Nicolás Zepeda would have committed errors and left in his wake a series of evidence against him.

The young man is suspected of having murdered Narumi Kurosaki, his 21-year-old ex-girlfriend, in a room on the campus of Besançon on the night of 4 to 5 December 2016. The students who were there that night said that they heard a scream, chilling, without anyone seeing anything in the corridors. By the time Narumi's disappearance was reported and the police investigation began, Nicolás Zepeda was already far away. He fled to Chile. His homeland. From there, he denies any involvement.

A year and a half after the events, the body of the Japanese student remains untraceable. Police investigations identified large areas of forest where the Chilean reportedly went the day after Narumi disappeared. In particular, XXL searches had been carried out in the Loue valley and in the Chaux forest, in vain.

During a second stage, the exploitation of phone evidence had allowed to limit the search areas in the surroundings of Choisey (Jura). This time, the method of operation was different: since last November, with the occasional help of dogs specialized in the search for human remains, the police have meticulously searched the area. This field effort is now over, without any trace of Narumi having been detected. Only a few aquatic areas remain to be checked.

Getting rid of a body isn't that easy. It seems unlikely that Narumi was buried or burned. The only thing left is to immerse the remains in a pool, a river, a pond, with, perhaps, a means of weighing it down. For months, the diving firefighters have been mobilized in this direction, again in vain. Will the mystery of her location ever be solved?

The Chilean judiciary, for its part, lifted the ban on leaving the territory initially served to Nicolás Zepeda-Contreras, as the deadline had expired. But Damocles' main sword remains suspended above his head: the international arrest warrant, which has the value of an indictment. As it stands, Narumi's alleged murderer cannot leave his native country without taking the risk of getting on a plane to Paris.

The Supreme Court of Chile does not have at its disposal the investigation conducted by the Judicial Police, and therefore the evidence accumulated against Nicolás Zepeda-Contreras. A complete extradition request will be sent by France in the coming months. Only then will we know. It will be known whether, even in the absence of a body, Chile will surrender its national to the French courts. And we will know whether or not Nicolás Zepeda-Contreras will be physically present to defend himself at his probable trial in the Criminal Court.

The relaunch of a second wave of investigations at the end of 2017 in the vicinity of Choisey had rekindled the hope of finding Narumi Kurosaki's body. After months of effort, the result is unfortunately not there, as Edwige Roux-Morizot, prosecutor of the Republic of Besançon, explains: "It is obviously a disappointment, for the judicial information of course, but especially for Narumi's family. Because they still have this uncertainty, which is human. It is very complicated for parents to accept the loss of a child, even more so in the absence of a body."

Chile's lifting of the ban on leaving the country does not worry the judge at all, for whom "it poses no difficulty." Edwige Morizot elaborates: "In reality, this is the expiry of the time limit for this measure, which was taken as a precautionary measure in view of our extradition request. But nothing has changed, it has no impact, the international arrest warrant is still valid. This extradition request will be transmitted in due course, following judicial information." When all the investigative acts are closed. For the record, a request for extradition may be made only once. Hence this strategy of waiting.

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I happened upon this case while looking for info on another case. Did not believe my eyes when I read what had happened. This man Nicolás Zepeda-Contreras travels half the globe, from Chile to France, takes his former girlfriend out to dinner (Dec 4/5 2016), she disappears and he returns to Chile (Dec 7 2016)

Video with his threats here, he seems to think he owns her.

Disparition de Narumi Kurosaki : vers la fin des recherches du corps

A year and a half after the disappearance of the Japanese student Narumi Kurosaki in Besançon (Doubs), investigators arrive at the end of the search for her body. Convinced that her ex-boyfriend, the Chilean Nicolas Zepeda Contreras, has committed a murder on her, they will resume their quest at the slightest new development.

"We used helicopters, planes, gendarmerie divers, sonars, dogs specialized in search of corpses, firemen, speleologists... All means were implemented. But with over 1,500 hours of searches, we've reached the maximum." The commander of the Besançon judicial police, Régis Millet, confides it with regret. After the last explorations of the Doubs in the coming days, it will be necessary to stop. At least until a new factor allows the investigating magistrate to restart these investigations.

The investigators do not exclude that a hiker, or a hunter, will one day bring them enough to reopen the investigation. Or even that the variations of the level of the Doubs, or the bad weather, will cause Narumi Kurosaki's suitcase to reappear, a suitcase in which, they are convinced, the suspect number 1, Nicolas Zepeda Contreras, transported and then immersed or buried the body.


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ZaZara said:

Disparition de Narumi Kurosaki : vers la fin des recherches du corps

The investigators do not exclude that a hiker, or a hunter, will one day bring them enough to reopen the investigation. Or even that the variations of the level of the Doubs, or the bad weather, will cause Narumi Kurosaki's suitcase to reappear, a suitcase in which, they are convinced, the suspect number 1, Nicolas Zepeda Contreras, transported and then immersed or buried the body.


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The variations of the level of the river Doubs..... be careful what you wish for.
First, the higher part of the Doubs near Switzerland fell dry almost completely due to the heat and lack of rain, and pictures of where has this river gone?? appeared in the press. After that, the center of France was inundated with thunderstorms and hailstorms, while roads turned into rivers.

If the suitcase reappeared and was carried away by the river, it may have gone anywhere.

More about the suitcase that is missing, in a report from December 2017:

Una maleta naranja: el objetivo de las pesquisas para aclarar la muerte de Narumi Kurosaki | Nacional | BioBioChile



With the arrival of frogmen to the search party, investigations continue into the death of the Japanese student Narumi Kurosaki, in whose death the main suspect is her ex-partner, the Chilean Nicolás Zepeda.

This morning, according to Le Progres, teams of divers from the French National Gendarmerie arrived at the Rhone Canal in Dole, where the French prosecutor's office is presuming the young woman was murdered.

The aim of the search is an orange suitcase 70 to 80 centimetres high that belonged to Kurosaki, a suitcase of which the trail was lost along with a blanket the night of her disappearance.

The suitcase, according to the French authorities, was allegedly the item used by the defendant to dispose of the body.

The Besançon public prosecutor, Edwige Roux-Morizot, had already announced new searches in the area, adding to the call from the police to look for possible witnesses who had seen the suitcase of the student.


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Nicolas Zepeda Contreras was not a local from the area, so how would he have found the perfect hiding place?

Missing Japanese student in France 'probably suffocated': Prosecutor

A Japanese student who went missing in eastern France in 2016 was probably suffocated in her university room by her fugitive Chilean ex-boyfriend.

Investigators believed that she had been killed, but determining the cause of death was difficult because her body has not been found despite extensive searches of a nearby forested area.

Skeleton discovered in the Doubs: it is not Narumi


A human skeleton was found by hunters this Sunday on the banks of the Doubs, south of Dole. Not far from where the police searched in vain for the body of Narumi Kurosaki, who has been missing for two years. But the trail of the Japanese student has been ruled out.

They were tracking the duck, but it was human remains that these hunters discovered this Sunday, downstream of the Molay bridge (Jura). The scene was immediately taken over by the gendarmerie's criminal investigation technicians in order to make initial observations.

The Besançon judicial police also visited the site. For nearly two years, investigators have been searching for the body of Narumi Kurosaki, the 21-year-old Japanese student who, they say, was murdered by her former Chilean boyfriend. The latter could have disposed of the body in a remote area, around the Chaux forest, in particular. Not far from where the skeleton was spotted this Sunday.

The first analyses have been completed. The bones don't match Narumi's. Our colleagues from Le Progrès recall that two people have been missing for several months in the Jura, including an octogenarian who threw himself into the flood waters from a bridge near Dole in February 2016.

DNA and dental analysis should determine the age and date of death of the victim.


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Affaire Narumi : la demande d'entraide internationale entre la France et le Chili en cours de traduction

Narumi case: the request for international assistance between France and Chile is being translated

The year 2019 will be decisive for the solving of the Narumi Kurosaki case. According to the Besançon police, she was murdered by her ex-boyfriend, who has fled to Chile. Two years after the Japanese student's disappearance, the public prosecutor makes a progress report.

More than two years after her disappearance, the Narumi mystery haunts the offices of the Besançon courthouse more than ever. Judicial police investigators have established one thing as a certainty: the Japanese student, whose scream was heard one last time on the Bouloie campus on the night of December 4-5, 2016, was murdered by her former boyfriend, Nicolas Zepeda-Contreras. Problem: Despite intense searches in forests and rivers, the body of the young and pretty Narumi Kurosaki has never been found.

Targeted by an international arrest warrant, Zepeda-Contreras took refuge in Chile, his native country. From there he denies any involvement. This is a delicate situation, both judicially and diplomatically, especially when we know that the suspect is none other than the son of a senior Movistar executive, a major figure in the Spanish-speaking telephone industry.

Faced with this apparent impasse, the magistrates of Besançon have no intention of putting their arms down. Their hope? To finally obtain Zepeda's extradition. A difficult process, which must go through an intermediate step. A request for international mutual assistance in criminal matters.

"This request, which is accompanied by much of the French procedure, is currently being translated. It will be routed through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Chile's response time will then be a good indicator of their willingness to cooperate. I hope it won't be more than two to three months," explains the public prosecutor, Étienne Manteaux. He wants to go to the country with the Besançon investigators and the investigating judge.

Their priority is to question the suspect themselves, who has so far only made a brief and spontaneous statement to the justice system in his country. In the event of a Chilean green light, the Besançon delegation would also take the opportunity to make a verbal plea for the solidity of the case, thus giving the subsequent extradition request a chance. "The version of the facts delivered by Zepeda-Contreras does not correspond to the objective evidence in the case. There are overwhelming indications against him," the Besançon prosecutor insists. He also hopes for diplomatic support from Japan, where the Narumi case is causing considerable concern.

The Japanese media share their time between Besançon and Chile, where a question mark is growing... According to a source close to the case, Nicolas Zepeda-Contreras has been out of circulation for several months. He is no longer in the family home in Serena or at his workplace in Santiago. If the South American authorities agree to have him questioned, will he reappear in time?


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Disparition de Narumi à Besançon : le Chili va enfin interroger le suspect

Disappearance of Narumi in Besançon: two years later, Chile will finally interrogate the suspect


An in-depth interrogation of Nicolas Zepeda-Contreras, suspected of having murdered Narumi Kurosaki in 2016 in Besançon, will be conducted in Chile in April. The investigating judge, the prosecutor and police officers from Besançon will cross the ocean to attend this hearing. A turning point in this sensitive case, that has become as political as it is judicial. France's objective: to obtain the extradition of the respondent.

It was almost unexpected. According to our information, the Chilean justice system has responded favourably to France's request for international assistance and is ready to cooperate on the complex case of the disappearance of Narumi Kurosaki.

For the Besançon prosecutor's office, it is a sad certainty: the Japanese student was murdered in December 2016 in her room on the Bouloie campus. Despite intense searches, her body was never found, but all the evidence converges on a single suspect: Nicolas Zepeda-Contreras, Narumi's ex-boyfriend.



Targeted by an international arrest warrant, this young 28-year-old assistant professor took refuge in his home in Chile, where he remains out of reach for the French justice system. The upcoming interrogation by the South American authorities, scheduled for April, may reshuffle the cards.

"This answer is positive. From what we understand, it is a Chilean magistrate who will question the suspect. The investigating judge of Besançon, the police director of investigation and I could attend the exchange and, if Chile agrees, ask questions based on his reactions," says Besançon's public prosecutor, Etienne Manteaux.

Nicolas Zepeda-Contreras is renowned for his intelligence. Investigators suspect him of planning his crime and concealing Narumi's body. In February 2017, the Chilean was briefly heard by his country's courts. The suspect then delivered an unconvincing version, which was not compatible with certain objective facts identified by the investigation. "We want to be present to ensure that the evidence in charge of the investigation file, and there are many of them, will be submitted to the suspect," Etienne Manteaux insists.

The Chilean authorities appear to consider the charges sufficiently substantiated to hear the respondent again. The downside is that Camp Zepeda, which now has access to the file, will necessarily have fine-tuned a defence strategy.

What will come out of this high-tension interrogation? Weakened by the absence of the body, the investigation is facing a decisive turning point. "Our objective is for Chile to consider the charges sufficient to put Nicolas Zepeda-Contreras under investigation, which would open up the possibility of extraditing him to France," the Besançon prosecutor declares.

Maitre Sylvie Galley passes on the words of Narumi Kurosaki's relatives. The announcement of Nicolas Zepeda-Contreras' upcoming hearing revives a painful ray of hope, according to the lawyer.

The Japanese student's relatives remain in absolute pain, according to their lawyer Sylvie Galley. Obsessed, she confides, by "a haunting question" that this glimmer of hope painfully revives: "Will Nicolas Zepeda-Contreras reveal, yes or no, what happened to Narumi? "


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https://www.eldinamo.cl/nacional/20...sospechoso-de-desaparicion-de-joven-japonesa/

The French will come to Chile for the man suspected in the disappearance of a young Japanese woman

The National Prosecutor's Office confirmed that a French delegation will arrive in our country in April to take part in a series of proceedings within the framework of the investigation that the justice system in that country is conducting into the alleged death of the Japanese citizen Narumi Kurosaki, who disappeared in the city of Besançon in December 2016.

The director of the International Cooperation and Extradition Unit (Uciex), Antonio Segovia, reported that the proceedings, including the taking of the statement of Nicolás Zepeda, the main suspect for the disappearance of the young Japanese woman, will be carried out by the prosecutor Ximena Chong, head of the High Complexity Unit of the Central North Metropolitan Prosecutor's Office.

He explained that Chong will be in charge of the proceedings due to the impossibility of the European country to conduct investigations in Chilean territory, therefore, the participation of the Public Ministry is imperative for the investigations that have been requested.

"There are different types of investigations that are being asked of us, including the taking of statements and others. In our country, they cannot directly carry out any type of investigative action; therefore, they come to witness the investigation that a Chilean prosecutor must carry out with the help or not of the police, as appropriate," the director of Uciex explained.

Previously, the French justice system directly requested the Public Prosecutor's Office, which in this case has the role of central authority in matters of assistance, to make an pre-trial arrest for extradition purposes in order to try the main accused in that country.

"At that time Zepeda was not detained, but under a number of precautionary measures of a restriction order and signature [order], and finally the French authority did not resend the formal request for extradition, which could be requested again later," Segovia said.

The proceedings are expected to take place between April 15 and 18 and, depending on the outcome of the proceedings, it will be determined how the case, investigation and cooperation between the two countries will continue.


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Affaire Narumi : face aux magistrats de Besançon, le suspect oppose un silence obstiné

Narumi case: before the magistrates of Besançon, the suspect maintains a stubborn silence

According to the Chilean press, Nicolas Zepeda-Contreras preferred not to answer the questions asked during his interrogation. A silence that would explain the brevity of his visit to the courthouse this Wednesday in Santiago. This Thursday, it was the turn of his family to be auditioned. Always in the presence of the delegation from Besançon, composed of the prosecutor, the investigating judge and two police officers.

That was one of the possible scenarios. Probably the worst, from the point of view of the revelation of the truth. According to a Chilean media journalist on Canal 13, Nicolas Zepeda-Contreras opted for his right to remain silent this Wednesday during his interrogation in Santiago. No answer, no justification. Surrounded by his brilliant lawyers, Narumi Kurosaki's ex-boyfriend refused to take up the challenge.

The Besançon prosecutor, Etienne Manteaux, the investigating judge and the two police officers of the PJ had not come to South America empty-handed. More than a hundred questions about his disturbing stay in Besançon at the end of 2016 had been devised to establish his role in Narumi's unsolved disappearance. The aim was clear: to confront Zepeda with his contradictions, which according to French justice, are very numerous.

His position was already weakened by his first account, compacted into two written pages, spontaneously delivered to the authorities of his country, only a few weeks after Narumi's disappearance. A clumsy version, which has become untenable in view of the evidence accumulated by the investigators. "This evidence is overwhelming," says the Besançon public prosecutor.

Well coached by his lawyers, Zepeda did not want to give additional ammunition to the prosecution, which would explain the brevity of his visit to the courthouse. When asked, the Besançon prosecutor, Etienne Manteaux, does not wish to make any comments as long as he is on Chilean soil.

Ever since he was suspected of having murdered Narumi, Nicolas Zepeda-Contreras - who loved travelling so much - can no longer leave his country. If he does, he runs the risk of being repatriated to France under the international arrest warrant issued against him. His life has changed. The son of Humberto Zepeda, Movistar's senior executive, has become a "ghost", fleeing public appearances and deserting social networks, that used to be one of his great passions.

According to the Chilean media, Nicolas does not work and is no longer a student. This computer and mathematics enthusiast left Santiago's family apartment and would be settled in his father's golden stronghold in Viña del Mar, 120 kilometres from the capital. Away from controversy and the growing suspicion of Chilean public opinion.

Zepeda-Contreras' silence does not block the workings of the investigations launched in Chile. This Thursday, it was the turn of his parents and two sisters to be interrogated by a South American prosecutor, always in the presence of the magistrates and police officers of Besançon, who are more than attentive observers. Did the suspect's relatives also dodge the questions? Nothing has been filtered out from behind this closed door yet.

According to our information, the request for international mutual legal assistance also provided for searches and seizure, in particular, of the respondent's computer equipment.

Will the outcome of all these recent procedural steps bring this already out of the ordinary case a new dimension? Will the Chilean courts consider sufficient evidence to prosecute Zepeda-Contreras? Will he be tried in Besançon, or rather in Chile? Two and a half years later, the death of the beautiful Narumi Kurosaki is still causing painful uncertainties in its wake.


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Affaire Narumi : "silence frustrant" du suspect, mais voyage au Chili "très positif" selon le procureur de Besançon

Narumi case: "frustrating silence" of the suspect, but travel to Chile "very positive" according to the Besançon prosecutor

As head of the delegation sent to Chile, where Nicolas Zepeda-Contreras was interviewed last Wednesday, Étienne Manteaux gives his first impressions to L'Est Républicain. According to the Besançon public prosecutor, the silence kept by the suspect in the Narumi Kurosaki murder is "frustrating," and the progress of the investigation "limited," but this trip is considered "very positive for the judicial consequences" of this unusual case. A major press conference is expected this Thursday.

The Besançon magistrates and police officers had crossed the ocean to experience this moment. Seeing Nicolas Zepeda-Contreras eye to eye. Monitor his reactions. Feel his emotions. To test the man, his certainties, his fears, his flaws.

Two and a half years after the disappearance of Narumi Kurosaki, a disappearance that is considered by the Besançon judicial police to be an assassination, the only suspect was finally interrogated. In support of this, the Besançon public prosecutor, the investigating judge and two investigators attended the hearing, which was conducted behind closed doors last Wednesday in Chile, according to plan.

Nicolas Zepeda chose to remain silent, but in the depths of the Santiago courthouse, the scene was intense. The 95 questions prepared by the French judicial authorities were meticulously asked by a Chilean magistrate, and on 95 occasions, Narumi's former boyfriend had to state his refusal to cooperate, repeating a sentence learned by heart.

Supported by his two lawyers, Zepeda-Contreras responded like a robot. During the interrogation, the Chilean - who had lost weight over the past few months - nevertheless understood how numerous and precise the evidence gathered against him was: he would have finished the hearing shaken, his eyes fogged, like a knock-out boxer still standing on his feet. Before rushing into a Porsche with tinted windows, to slip away through a swarm of Chilean and Japanese journalists

"The progress of the investigation is limited and Nicolas Zepeda-Contreras' silence is obviously frustrating, but this trip remains very positive," the public prosecutor, Etienne Manteaux, summarizes for L'Est Républicain.

"It was essential for us to go there, to meet the Chilean magistrates in charge of international cooperation and to open effective information channels. It was also possible to explain orally the evidence gathered against Zepeda," says the prosecutor, who is also "impressed" by the Chilean authorities' "level of cooperation and commitment." They did play the game, in terms of investigations. "Today," concludes Étienne Manteaux, "we have real visibility on the legal consequences of the case."

The prosecutor will explain the next steps in the Narumi case at a major press conference scheduled for Thursday afternoon, in the presence of many Japanese journalists.

12,000 kilometres from the Doubs, and this is a novelty, the Chilean media are also closely following the progress of the case. The obstinate silence of Nicolas Zepeda-Contreras, the last known person to have known Narumi alive, has left a layer of uncertainty about the disappearance of the Japanese student, tothe greatest suffering of her family, who remained in Japan. But in this pain, the workings of the procedure are finally unblocked.

It seems that the French justice system has fired its final cartridges. What will happen next? Two options are possible: to transfer the procedure to the Chilean courts, or to keep it on the French side. The first one seems unlikely. In a country where the ghosts of the Pinochet era, marked by the murder and disappearance of thousands of opponents, are still roaming around, one does not condemn someone for a homicide, while the victim's body remains untraceable. This is the case for Narumi Kurosaki. Chilean judicial machinery is also complex, and could stop the progress of such a case.

If, on the other hand, the "French" option is chosen, the logical next step will be the request for the extradition of Nicolas Zepeda-Contreras, who lives free in his native country, despite the international arrest warrant issued against him. His trial would therefore be held in Besançon. With an accused box left empty, if Chile finally refuses to hand over its national. It will be up to the Supreme Court to decide.


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La sœur de Narumi témoigne : "Nicolas Zepeda-Contreras est coupable"

Narumi's sister testifies: "Nicolas Zepeda-Contreras is guilty''.

For the first time since the disappearance of her sister Narumi at the end of 2016 in Besançon, Honami Kurosaki agreed to speak with the media. The young student shares with L'Est Républicain her feelings about Nicolas Zepeda-Contreras, whom she thinks "of course guilty", while evoking the suffering of her family. All this with great modesty.

It was finally through writing that Honami, one of Narumi Kurosaki's two sisters, agreed to answer the questions of L'Est Républicain. A 21-year-old student, the age Narumi was when she mysteriously disappeared from the Besançon campus, Honami broke the silence of her family. She lifts, with modesty, the veil on the intimate nightmare experienced by her family. In Honami's eyes, Nicolas Zepeda-Contreras' guilt is no longer matter of doubt. "What he wanted was to have Narumi all to himself," the young Japanese woman says. Interview.

How did you hear at the time that Narumi was missing?

I was informed of my sister's disappearance by the University of Tsukuba (where Narumi was attending school - editor's note), by phone.

What did you first think, in the first few days after this announcement?

I figured we'd find her. I didn't realize it was so serious.

Faced with the void left by Narumi's death, how do you feel today?

It's so difficult that I can't find the words... When she was in Besançon, I was in contact with my sister every day. The last time I really saw her was when she left Japan to travel to France.

How do your parents react to this situation?

I think the only hope left for my parents is to find the truth... My mother became very ill, mentally and physically. She hasn't left her bed for some time.

Why was it so important last June to make the trip to Besançon?

It was so difficult for us that I can't express it, but my parents and I did what we thought was best for Narumi. Meeting our lawyer Sylvie Galley was also very important to us. We wanted things to move forward.

What do you think happened in your sister's room that night?

I can't answer that question....

The police suspect Nicolas Zepeda-Contreras of the worst: do you think he is guilty?

Yes. Of course he's guilty.

You've already met him, what kind of person was he with Narumi?

I spent a lot of time with him and Narumi. He was nice to me, but all he wanted was to have Narumi all to himself. He took for granted the fact that Narumi gave him priority in her life, rather than her family. For example, I couldn't enjoy time with my sister when she came back from Tsukuba and went home.

Has Nicolas Zepeda-Contreras been in contact with you or your family since December 5, 2016?

No.


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Besançon. Affaire Narumi : la France demande au Chili l’extradition du suspect

Narumi case: France requests Chile extradition of the suspect


Three years after Narumi Kurosaki's alleged murder on the Besançon campus, the prosecutor's office has finally formalized its extradition request. Will Chile hand over Nicolas Zepeda-Contreras, the only suspect, to the French courts? Without the body of the young Japanese student, nowhere to be found, the chances of success remain slim.

This is the last card to be dealt, in order to hope to solve the macabre disappearance of Narumi Kurosaki. As announced last spring, the Besançon prosecutor's office will send a request for extradition to Chile at the beginning of this week. The man targeted: Nicolas Zepeda-Contreras, the only suspect in the alleged murder of the Japanese student, whose body has been untraceable for almost three years.

Already concerned by an international arrest warrant, this son of a good family has been hiding in his country since the case began, sheltered by borders. Will the South American authorities hand over their citizen? It is up to the Supreme Court of Chile to decide. The maximum response time is three months.

This long-planned manoeuvre follows the interrogation of Zepeda last April in Santiago, the Chilean capital. Two investigators from the Besançon PJ, an investigating judge and the public prosecutor himself, Étienne Manteaux, had crossed the ocean to attend this tense closed-door meeting.

Supervised by his two lawyers, the suspect had remained stubbornly silent on the 95 questions, meticulously prepared by the French magistrates and police. After that, he left the premises in a shiny Porsche with tinted windows.

The extradition request formalised by the prosecutor, who worked in close collaboration with the major players in the investigation, includes point by point all the evidence against Nicolas Zepeda-Contreras. Translated into Spanish, the document is thick: about forty pages.

The results of the additional investigations conducted in Chile six months ago, in particular on the young man's computer equipment, have been added to the file. The investigation is now closed. The prosecutor invited all the media - French and Japanese - to Besançon this Thursday to detail the ins and outs of his approach.

For Nicolas Zepeda-Contreras, the picture is rather overwhelming. The presence of the respondent in Narumi's campus room on the victim's "last night" is beyond doubt. The Chilean also lied about many aspects of his stay in the Franche-Comté region, and his line of defence appears fragile.

According to several judicial sources, the chances of Chile accepting his extradition nevertheless remain slim: the absence of Narumi's body, coupled with recent diplomatic tensions over the Salamanca case, do not make a case for a positive outcome. But who doesn't attempt anything...

On the side of the Besançon courthouse, it is secretly hoped that a strong mobilization of Chilean public opinion, via the local media, can thwart the prognosis. Narumi's relatives, devastated by the situation, are also hoping for a positive outcome. They have only one concern, one obsession: to find the body of their beloved daughter and sister, in order to open the doors of a mourning that has been impossible until now.

If Chile refuses to surrender Zepeda-Contreras, a trial will still be held in Besançon in 2020. In the absence of the accused. In the event of a conviction, the borders of his country would then become the only walls of his prison.


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Un Chilien mêlé à la disparition d’une étudiante à Besançon extradé ?

The Chilean courts adjourned until January 22 the hearing on the extradition request to France of the young man suspected of being behind the disappearance of a Japanese student in 2016 in Besançon, in eastern France, a judicial source announced Thursday. The hearing was scheduled to take place on December 11. The Chilean prosecutor's office in charge of extraditions "requested that the hearing to examine Nicolas Zepeda's extradition request be adjourned until January," the source said.

Narumi Kurosaki, 21, lived on the Besançon university campus. She was last seen on December 4, 2016. Her body was never found. Nicolas Zepeda was Narumi's former lover. The public prosecutor in Besançon, Etienne Manteaux, announced on 10 October that the investigation into this case was terminated and that the "thirty-four months of investigations" justified "Nicolas Zepeda's extradition request to appear before the Besançon criminal court for the murder of Narumi Kurosaki."

According to the investigations, Nicolas Zepeda went to Besançon at the beginning of December 2016 to see the young woman. And on the evening of December 4, the day before she disappeared, they had returned together to Narumi's home. That night, the prosecutor reported, several students heard "screams of terror, screams", but "no one reported it to the police".


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Postergan por segunda vez audiencia por extradición a Francia de chileno acusado de matar a su novia japonesa

Extradition hearing to France of Chilean accused of killing Japanese girlfriend postponed for second time

The French prosecutor's office ended the investigations into the murder of Japanese student Narumi Kurosaki in October this year and has repeatedly requested that Chilean Nicolás Zepeda, her former partner and main suspect, be extradited to France to stand trial.

However, the extradition has been postponed on several occasions, because for the Chilean justice system the evidence presented against Zepeda "would not be sufficient". At the request of the attorney for the Public Prosecutor's Office, Álvaro Hernández, the hearing originally scheduled for Dec. 12 was postponed the first time to Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2020.

However, this morning the Supreme Court postponed the hearing again, setting it for February 12 at 2:00 p.m., when the extradition request will be reviewed. The highest court ordered the appearance of Nicolás Zepeda Contreras at the hearing, indicating that if he does not attend, "his detention will be handled by Interpol, represented in Chile by the Investigative Police.

"These 34 months of investigation justify the request for the extradition of Nicolás Zepeda to appear before the court of Besançon for the murder of Narumi Kurosaki, committed on the morning of December 5, 2016," Besançon prosecutor Etienne Manteaux stated in a press release.

The case

Narumi Kurosaki, a young wman, was ivng on the university campus of Besançon. She was last seen on the night of December 4, 2016. According to prosecutor Manteaux, several students in the university residence said they heard "screams of terror" and a "loud bang" in the middle of the night of December 4-5. "It would appear that someone is being murdered," an English student who lived on the same floor as Kurosaki wrote to a friend by text message at 3:21 a.m.

The Chilean had threatened Kurosaki in a video posted on the internet which he withdrew. About that night, he admitted he was in her room and had "consensual sex" with her, and said he left immediately afterwards.

The evidence against the Chilean man

Nicolas Zepeda returned to Chile before the police were alerted to Kurosaki's disappearance. Investigators suspect that he strangled her, as no blood was found in the room. In addition, the young man was seen leaving through the emergency exit of the student complex.

In the investigation, they say that the GPS in the car rented by Zepeda circulated in the Chaux forest, one of the largest in France (20,000 hectares). Nearby, the stabbed body of another woman was found just 10 days after the Japanese student disappeared. The car was returned "very dirty" three days after the disappearance, with dirt on the driver's side and in the trunk. Also, through his credit card, they discovered that he stopped on the way to buy matches, flammable liquid and bleach at a supermarket.

Regarding the extradition request to be reviewed by the Supreme Court in Chile, the French prosecutor stated that "this is the last step. We must go through this process in order to have a trial," he said, although he added that he is aware that "there are many obstacles to this extradition request" in a country that does not usually extradite its citizens.

If Chile rejects the request, Zepeda will be tried in absentia, which "would obviously be unsatisfactory," Manteaux said.



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Disparition de Narumi à Besançon: l'audition du suspect n°1 au Chili une nouvelle fois reportée

Disappearance of Narumi in Besançon: hearing of Chile's No. 1 suspect postponed once again

In the Narumi Kurosaki case, Chile's supreme court was due to consider on Wednesday the extradition to France of Nicolas Zepeda, Narumi's former Chilean boyfriend, who is suspected of murdering the Japanese student in Besançon at the end of 2016. The hearing has been postponed until March 5th.

In the Narumi Kurosaki case, the Chilean supreme court hearing on the extradition of Nicolas Zepeda Contreras has been postponed for the third time. It was originally scheduled to be held in December 2019, then on 22 January, and again on Wednesday. Finally, the hearing, during which the Supreme Court must rule on the extradition request of Narumi's former Chilean boyfriend, made by the French justice system, will begin on March 5.

The 28-year-old Chilean is suspected of having murdered the Japanese student on the night of 4-5 December 2016 in Besançon. A refugee in his country, he refused to answer 95 questions asked by French investigators and magistrates who crossed the Atlantic to question him in April 2019, even though Narumi Kurosaki's body has not yet been found. France has sent the Chilean authorities a request for the extradition of this man, on whom the Besançon public prosecutor's office has said he faces overwhelming charges.

The hearing was to be held this Wednesday in Santiago de Chile, but the Supreme Court judge in charge of the case wanted to obtain further information on the case and to hear witnesses. In particular, he asked for the translation into Spanish of the hearings of two Japanese women, who were questioned in their country at the request of the French authorities. Close to Nicolas Zepeda, these two Japanese women had translated sentences from Spanish into Japanese at his request. These sentences were then found word for word in the reassuring text messages received for several days by Narumi's family and relatives after the student's disappearance.

The French justice system, which suspects Nicolas Zepeda of having sent them using the girl's phone, considers these testimonies to be important incriminating evidence. The Chilean judge also decided to hear by videoconference two French investigators and several witnesses. Several successive hearings are planned for this from 5 March on, as a kind of early trial, according to a source close to the case.

For the Besançon magistrates and police officers, who are still hoping for the extradition of the presumed murderer, this is a positive signal. "This means that the supreme court does not plan to deal with our request quickly, after a summary hearing," said Besançon state prosecutor Etienne Manteaux. "It is a clear sign that we have accumulated a series of evidence that directly implicate Nicolas Zepeda as the presumed author of this homicide," he said.

Judge Jorge Dahm, who is in charge of the case on the Chilean side, had spoken out on France Bleu Besançon in February 2017, well before the extradition request and the transfer of the case file by the French justice system. "Chile has no problem handing over its nationals to be tried abroad," he said at the time. "And we have very good relations with France. If the evidence provided by France is strong enough, extradition is most likely."

Chile's Supreme Court decision is expected at the end of March/beginning of April. If Nicolas Zepeda is extradited, he will appear before the Doubs Assize Court, otherwise he will be tried by the same court in absentia, that is to say in his absence.


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https://www.biobiochile.cl/noticias...-zepeda-la-desaparicion-narumi-kurosaki.shtml

The Supreme Court confirmed the extradition to France of Nicolas Zepeda, the sole defendant in the disappearance and alleged murder of his former partner Narumi Kurosaki.

The decision of the Supreme Court was made in a unanimous ruling and after his arrival in the foreign country, the trial against him will begin, which will determine his alleged responsibility in the crime.

The director of the International Cooperation and Extradition Unit of the Public Prosecutor's Office, Antonio Segovia, the French representative in Chile, agreed with the decision, indicating that it is now time to notify the sentence in order to make the arrangements for the transfer.

From France, prosecutor Etienne Manteaux said that this is a great step forward since "it was difficult to imagine a trial without his (Zepeda's) presence in the defendant's box.

He said he has no knowledge of what Zepeda's defence will do, but "perhaps he could reveal where Narumi's body is."

Meanwhile, the defense of the Chilean, Joanna Heskia, said she was disappointed by the decision of the Second Chamber, since they believe that there is no legal precedent for granting extradition. "In some way we feel that they have failed by lowering a standard that is necessary for due process," the lawyer said.


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Enquête. Affaire Narumi : le suspect sous contrôle judiciaire jusqu’à son extradition

Nicolas Zepeda, a Chilean suspected of having killed his Japanese ex-girlfriend in Besançon in 2016, will remain under judicial supervision pending his extradition to France.

"The supreme court is maintaining the preventive measures of judicial control and a ban on Nicolas Zepeda leaving the country pending his extradition to France," Chile's highest court said on its Twitter account.

The prosecutor's office had lodged an appeal against the supreme court's decision on 27 May not to remand the 29-year-old suspect in custody but to maintain the preventive measures to which he was subject.

On 18 May, the Supreme Court of Chile finally authorized the extradition of Nicolas Zepeda to France.

After this decision, the French authorities have normally 60 days to retrieve Nicolas Zepeda from Chile. But due to the restrictions on movement imposed by the pandemic (suspension of international flights, closure of borders) no precise date could be put forward.



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