PARIS (Reuters) – The appeal trial in France of a Chilean man found guilty of murdering his Japanese ex-girlfriend in 2016 was postponed to an unspecified date after the accused changed lawyers, the presiding judge said in court.
Last year, a court found Nicolas Zepeda guilty of murdering 21-year-old Narumi Kurosaki in Besançon, in eastern France in a trial that made national headlines in France, Chile and Japan.
Zepeda, who was sentenced to 28 years in jail, said he was innocent and appealed the verdict. Kurosaki’s body has not been found.
The appeal trial was initially due to start on Tuesday. It was initially postponed to Thursday over the change of lawyer, and has now been delayed further, after the accused and his new lawyer asked for more time to prepare his defence.
This will likely mean a postponement of several months, a court official said.
Sylvie Galley, a lawyer for the victim’s family, said Zepeda was “exploiting” the legal system with his last-minute change of lawyer and request for the trial to be postponed, local newspaper L’Est Republicain quoted her as saying.
“The pain of the Kurosaki family is immeasurable,” she said.
(Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Christina Fincher)
