French court jails Chilean 28 years for murder of Japanese ex-girlfriend

RFI -- Apr 13

A French court on Tuesday sentenced Nicolas Zepeda, a Chilean man, to 28 years in jail for murdering his Japanese ex-girlfriend in 2016 in eastern France, after a high-profile investigation spanning three continents.

The jury at the court in Besançon convicted Nicolas Zepeda, 31, * of murdering Narumi Kurosaki, then aged 21, in December 2016. Prosecutors had called for a life sentence.

Kurosaki, a brilliant scholarship student, arrived in the eastern city in the summer of 2016 to learn French. She disappeared on 4 December.

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

As the verdict was read out after four hours of jury deliberations, Zepeda remained motionless, looking dejected.

Sitting opposite, Narumi Kurosaki's mother Taeko Kurosaki watched him, her head tilted slightly to the side, handkerchief in hand and still holding the photo of her daughter she had clutched since the start of the trial late last month. ...continue reading

Apr 13 (ANNnewsCH) - 2016年、留学中のフランス東部・ブザンソンで姿を消し、黒崎愛海(当時21)さんが行方不明になっている事件で、殺人罪に問われている元交際相手でチリ人のニコラス・セペダ被告(31)に対し、フランスの裁判所は12日、禁錮28年を言い渡しました。 セペダ被告は、これまでの裁判で一貫して無実を訴えていて、この日も判決を前に「私は殺人者ではない」と改めて無罪を主張していました。 一方、検察側は、事前の行動などから犯行は計画的であり、被告が黒崎さんを殺害した後、遺体を川に遺棄したと主張し、終身刑を求刑していました。