Overview
- The Lyon retrial, which concluded Thursday, sentenced the Chilean defendant to life in prison for the presumed killing of Japanese student Aimi Kurosaki.
- Investigators never found Kurosaki’s body, and the court relied on circumstantial evidence and reports of suspicious behavior to reach a guilty verdict.
- Sepeda has denied the charge in court, saying he did not kill her, and his lawyers say they will appeal.
- Earlier courts imposed 28-year terms in 2022 and 2023, but France’s Court of Cassation in 2025 threw out the appellate ruling over procedural errors and ordered a new trial.
- Prosecutors said jealousy drove Sepeda to travel to Besançon in 2016, kill Kurosaki in her dorm room, hide the body, return to Chile, and later face trial in France after a 2020 extradition.