Society

Chilean denies murder of Japanese ex in high-profile French trial

Mar 30 (AFP) - A Chilean man on Tuesday denied to a French court that he had murdered his Japanese ex-girlfriend, Narumi Kurosaki, who disappeared in 2016 in a high-profile case that has spanned three continents.

"I would like to say clearly that I did not kill Narumi, I deny these accusations with all my strength," Nicolas Zepeda told the Besancon court, speaking in Spanish through an interpreter.

Kurosaki, a brilliant scholarship student then aged 21, arrived in eastern French city Besancon in summer 2016 to learn the language. She disappeared on December 4.

Her former boyfriend Zepeda, whom she had broken up with a year before, was the last person to see her alive.

"I hope sincerely that this trial will bring the truth we need to find her," Zepeda said, calling the allegation that he murdered his ex "monstrous".

Prosecutors allege that Zepeda was unable to deal with the couple's breakup, coming to Besancon to kill Kurosaki in her student dorm room before dumping the body in the forests of the rugged Jura region.

But so far no trace has been found of Kurosaki's remains.

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