- England captain Stokes back from injury for second Pakistan Test
- Shanghai stocks gain after stimulus briefing as markets rally
- Shanghai stocks gain after stimulus briefing as Asian markets rally
- South Korea military says 'fully ready' as drone flights anger North
- Pakistan 'vigilantes' behind rise in online blasphemy cases
- Nearly 90, but opera legend Kabaivanska is still calling tune
- Smith experiment as Test opener over, Green out of India series
- With inflation down, ECB eyes faster tempo of rate cuts
- Is life possible on a Jupiter moon? NASA goes to investigate
- Dodgers crush Mets 9-0 in MLB playoff series opener
- South Korea military says 'fully ready' as drone tensions soar
- Cummins back, Marsh and Head out of Pakistan ODI series
- Shanghai stocks swing after stimulus briefing as most of Asia rises
- New Zealand's Latham promises 'no fear' as he takes charge for India Tests
- Kyrgios vows to 'shut up' doubters with December comeback
- Public hearings start into death of Brit by Russian nerve agent
- Ex-Stasi officer faces verdict over 1974 Berlin border killing
- Role of government, poverty research tipped for economics Nobel
- 'Stolen satire' feeds US election misinformation
- Rookie McCarty captures first PGA Tour title in Black Desert Championship
- Australia all-rounder Green ruled out of India Test series
- Seeing double in Nigeria's 'twins capital of the world'
- UK FM to attend EU foreign affairs talks for first time in 2 years
- Carter, Billups among 13 new Basketball Hall of Fame inductees
- Ravens rip Commanders as Lions lose NFL sacks leader in win
- Hezbollah drone strike kills four, wounds dozens at Israeli base
- China says launches military drills around Taiwan
- Stewart leads Liberty past Lynx to level WNBA Finals
- England return to winning ways in Nations League, Austria thrash Norway
- UN chief says attacks on UNIFIL 'may constitute a war crime'
- Ravens outlast Commanders while Bucs batter Saints in NFL
- Dozens hurt in Israel as Hezbollah claims drone strike
- England deserve 'world class' coach: Carsley
- Burkina Faso win to become first qualifiers for 2025 AFCON
- AC Milan's Pulisic among five out for USA match in Mexico
- France's Amandine Henry retires from international football
- Centre-left set to win pro-Ukraine Lithuania's vote
- India's World Cup hopes in Pakistan hands after Australia defeat
- Zelensky says NKorea sending troops to Russian army
- England beat Finland to get back on track
- King and Lewis propel West Indies to T20 triumph over Sri Lanka
- Pre-Halloween 'Terrifier' lands atop North America box office
- 'I still plan to compete and play next season,' says Djokovic
- Harris, Trump seek advantage in knife-edge election battle
- Chepngetich shatters women's marathon world record in Chicago
- Kamindu and Asalanka power Sri Lanka to 179 against West Indies
- Chepngetich shatters women's marathon world record as Korir wins in Chicago
- Spain send injured Yamal home 'to prioritise player's health'
- In milestone, SpaceX 'catches' megarocket booster after test flight
- Iraq walks fine line with pro-Iran factions to avoid war
'I did not kill Narumi:' Chilean appeals against murder conviction
A Chilean man insisted on Monday he did not kill his Japanese ex-girlfriend Narumi Kurosaki in 2016, at the start of his appeal against his murder conviction in a French court.
Nicolas Zepeda was sentenced in April last year to 28 years in jail for the murder of Kurosaki, then aged 21, in December 2016.
Her body was never found.
The appeal trial opened exactly seven years after Kurosaki was last seen.
"I did not kill Narumi," Zepeda, 32, said in French, speaking in court in the eastern town of Vesoul.
"I contest with all my might the things I am accused of," said Zepeda, who has learnt French in prison.
"It has been a real nightmare," he said in front of a packed courtroom, which included the victim's mother and two sisters.
"I think of her family's enormous grief, which I carry with me all the time," he added, visibly moved.
In February, the appeal was delayed after the defendant's lawyer was changed at the last moment.
Sylvie Galley, who represents Kurosaki's family, told reporters: "If the family is here today, it's for one and only one reason -- to honour Narumi's memory".
"The family has come without any hope of revelation, confession or truth from Nicolas Zepeda," she added.
Galley said that the family had already mourned Narumi and that maintaining hope "would be extremely destructive".
- 'Difficult trial' -
The defendant's father, Humberto Zepeda, said he wanted to see his son exonerated at the end of the "new trial".
"No-one can say with certainty today that Narumi is dead," he said. "Scientifically, it's impossible," he added.
"This is the 21st century. A country as developed as France cannot sentence a person to 28 years on the basis of a hypothesis. It's not possible."
Renaud Portejoie, a lawyer for Zepeda, said he hoped the new trial would help "change the situation".
"The trial ahead of us is difficult, impossible some would say, but we are ready to do our outmost to ensure that this second trial is different from the first," he said.
He has commissioned a new psychiatric examination and may call on new witnesses.
Kurosaki, a brilliant scholarship student, arrived in the eastern French city of Besancon that summer to learn French.
She disappeared on December 4.
Zepeda, with whom she had broken up a year earlier, was the last person to see her alive.
The Chilean has admitted spending the night with Kurosaki in December, claiming he ran into her by chance.
Several witnesses reported hearing "screams of terror", although none called the police at the time.
Some of Kurosaki's friends received strange messages in the following days from her social networking accounts, which police believe were sent by Zepeda.
He was extradited from Chile to France in 2020.
Prosecutors said at the first trial that Zepeda was unable to deal with the couple's break-up, travelling to Besancon to kill Kurosaki in her student dorm room before dumping the body in the forests of the rugged Jura region.
They pointed to evidence from witnesses, telephone records and geolocation of the car Zepeda hired.
X.Karnes--AMWN