Chilean Extradited to France in Connection with Ex-Girlfrien
Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2020 3:22 am
Chilean Nicolas Zepeda, center, suspect of the disappearance and possible murder of Japanese student Narumi Kurosaki in 2016, leaves his house on a car escorted by the police in Valparaiso, Chile, to be extradited to France, on July 22, 2020.
A Chilean man has been extradited to France to face charges in connection with the disappearance and alleged killing of a Japanese university student.
Nicolas Zepeda is charged in France with premeditated murder in the alleged 2016 slaying of his girlfriend, Narumi Kurosaki, whose body was never found.
He had returned to Chile by the time Kurosaki was reported missing from her university in Besancon, France, days later.
Zepeda was under house arrest in Viña del Mar, but the Chilean Supreme Court lifted the order earlier on Wednesday clearing the way for Interpol officers to escort him to France.
Chile's high court first intervened in May, approving Zepeda’s extradition weeks after a lower court blocked his return to France when Zepeda's lawyer argued that he could not be extradited because Kurosaki's body has never been found.
Zepeda, who met with Kurosak in December before her disappearance, has reportedly not cooperated with authorities investigating the case.