France has asked Chile to extradite the man suspected of killing a Japanese student in the eastern French city of Besancon last month, officials said Monday.
An official request for the arrest and extradition of the man, identified in the media as Nicolas Zepeda Contreras, was filed on Wednesday, prosecutor Edwige Roux-Morizot told AFP.
French authorities believe 21-year-old Narumi Kurosaki was murdered by Contreras, 26, her former boyfriend. Contreras is then thought to have fled to his home country.
“All the necessary documents will be transmitted to Chile, who can now detain the suspect,” Roux-Morizot said, adding that Chile would have 50 days to respond.
Police believe Kurosaki is dead, but have been unable to find her body despite extensive searches.
“The search is continuing,” the prosecutor said.
In a video that dates from September and has since been published by French and Japanese media, Contreras threatened Kurosaki with unnamed consequences if she did not fulfil unspecified conditions.
Speaking in English in the video, Contreras said he loved Kurosaki but accused her of doing “bad things”.
Kurosaki, who had been studying in Besancon since September, met the Chilean teaching assistant in Japan but the pair later split.
