bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse

After more than three years evading French prosecutors, Chilean national Nicolas Zepeda was set to be extradited to France on Thursday, where is he accused of murdering his Japanese ex-girlfriend in 2016.
Police escorted the 29-year-old from the seaside resort of Vina del Mar, 120 kilometres west of Santiago, where he had been under house arrest, to the Santiago international airport some 12 hours ahead of schedule.
After a two-hour trip Zepeda entered the airport terminal under police escort, where he is to be formally handed over to French police.
Zepeda was set to board an Air France flight on Thursday bound for Paris.

Narumi Kurosaki, then 21, vanished from her university in Besancon, near the French Alps in December 2016 after eating with Zepeda.
He had returned to Chile by the time her disappearance was reported days later.
French investigators believe he killed Kurosaki in a jealous rage – but her body was never found, despite extensive searches.
Zepeda has been under house arrest with police surveillance in Vina del Mar.

His extradition will end a legal process in Chile that began in March when authorities finally accepted a request from French prosecutors to hand him over.
The process was delayed and complicated by the novel coronavirus pandemic and the closing of borders.
This will be the third extradition of a Chilean to France, and comes even though French authorities refuse to send former Chilean guerilla Ricardo Palma Salamanca back to his homeland to stand trial for the 1991 murder of right-wing senator Jaime Guzman.
“The Zepeda case is of a criminal nature and gender violence is not a political trial nor does it compromise the political relations between Chile and France,” said analyst Rene Jara, from Santiago University.
‘We will never forgive’
The plane is expected to land at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris at 10:55am local time on Friday.
Zepeda, the only suspect in the case, will then be transferred to Besancon to stand trial.
“Three years have passed since my beloved daughter disappeared … I pray that Nicolas will be tried in France, I would give my life for this,” said Kurosaki’s mother Taeko in a moving letter presented to the court in Chile.
“We will never forgive Nicolas, who took Narumi’s life and her from the whole family.”
France seeks extradition of Chilean suspected of killing Japanese ex-girlfriend
According to investigators, Zepeda went to Besancon at the beginning of December 2016 to see his former girlfriend.
On the evening of December 4, the pair entered her residence together.
French prosecutors say several students heard “howls of terror, cries” that night, but nobody called the police.
Zepeda, the son of a wealthy Chilean family, met Kurosaki in Japan in 2014.
Narumi Kurosaki was probably suffocated by her ex-boyfriend, says prosecutor
At the time of her disappearance, the pair had broken up and she was in a new relationship, which prosecutors said angered Zepeda, who threatened Kurosaki in an online video he later removed.
Investigators said that in the days before her disappearance, Zepeda flew to France, hired a car and drove to Besancon to meet her.


On the way, they said he stopped to buy matches, flammable liquid and bleach at a supermarket.
Zepeda was questioned in April last year by a Chilean judge in the presence of French investigators. He denies any hand in Kurosaki’s disappearance.
While the case has generated little interest in Chile it has been followed closely in both France and Japan.
Zepeda is set to be represented in France by Jacqueline Laffont, who once defended former France president Nicolas Sarkozy in a corruption case.



Leaders invited to Trump’s Board of Peace meeting in US. Who’s going?

Memorial for Swiss bar fire victims goes up in flames, adding to New Year’s tragedy fallout

French duo reach Shanghai, China, after walking over 12,000km in 518 days

As traditional US allies hedge their bets, will China be the one to cash in?

France

Chile extradites sole suspect in murder of Japanese student Narumi Kurosaki to France

Murder suspect Nicolas Zepeda attends an extradition hearing in Chile in March. Photo: AFP

Nicolas Zepeda, left, is driven in a car by police investigators from his home where he was under house arrest, one day prior his extradition to France, in a Viña del Mar, Chile, Wednesday, July 22, 2020. Zepeda faces charges related to the 2016 murder of his former Japanese girlfriend Narumi Kurosaki. (AP Photo/Lucas Aguayo)

=== PHOTO CAPTURED ONLINE=== Narmumi Kurosaki was killed in France in December 5, 2016. French police believe her ex boyfriend, Nicolas Zepeda Contreras, 28, killed her and are seeking to extradite him from his native Chile. Photo: Narumi Kurosaki/FacebookKurosaki identified here: https://www.tokyoreporter.com/crime/missing-japanese-woman-chilean-suspect-questioned-by-prosecutors/

Nicolas Zepeda, suspected of the disappearance and murder of a Japanese student in the French city of Besancon, leaves a court in Santiago in 2017. Photo: AFP

South Korea seeks extradition of Philippine diplomat accused of sexual abuse

Noe Albano Wong, former Philippine ambassador to South Korea. Photo: Facebook

Tourists walk along the beach at Boracay in the Philippines, April 8, 2018. REUTERS/Erik De Castro

France seeks extradition of Chilean man suspected of killing Japanese ex-girlfriend Narumi Kurosaki

Narmumi Kurosaki vanished in France in December 5, 2016. French police believe her ex boyfriend, Nicolas Zepeda Contreras, 28, killed her and are seeking to extradite him from his native Chile. Photo: Facebook

Narmumi Kurosaki vanished in France in December 5, 2016. French police believe her ex boyfriend, Nicolas Zepeda Contreras, 28, killed her and are seeking to extradite him from his native Chile. Photo: Narumi Kurosaki/FacebookAnother of Narumi's Facebook photos was identified on this site: https://www.tokyoreporter.com/crime/missing-japanese-woman-chilean-suspect-questioned-by-prosecutors/

Public prosecutor of Besancon Etienne Manteaux. Photo: AFP

Hong Kong murder suspect at centre of extradition bill row ‘still under police protection’

Chan Tong-kai accompanied by Reverend Canon Peter Koon leaves the Pik Uk Correctional Institution in Hong Kong last October. Photo: EPA

Facebook capture of a Hong Kong woman was killed in Taiwan. Photo: Facebook

National security law: Hong Kong government slams ‘double standards’, ‘interference’ as Britain suspends extradition deal

The Hong Kong government came out firing on Tuesday, a day after British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab (pictured) announced the suspension of his country’s extradition treaty with the city. Photo: Reuters

The Hong Kong SAR (L) and the China National flag (R) flags are displayed in Wong Tai Sin, Hong Kong. 16JUL20 SCMP / Sun Yeung

News

World

Americas

Europe


Narumi Kurosaki, then 21, vanished from her university near the French Alps in December 2016 after eating with Nicolas Zepeda
French investigators believe he killed Kurosaki in a jealous rage – but her body was never found, despite extensive searches



Narumi Kurosaki, then 21, vanished from her university near the French Alps in December 2016 after eating with Nicolas Zepeda.


Japan

Americas and the Caribbean

Crime