Chile's Supreme Court on Monday finalized its decision to extradite a Chilean suspect to France over the alleged murder of a Japanese woman who went missing while studying in France in December 2016.

It usually takes about two months to extradite a suspect, according to Chilean prosecutors. But it is unclear when Nicolas Zepeda Contreras, the suspect in the murder case, will be turned over to French authorities amid uncertainties over the course of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Zepeda returned to Chile shortly after the woman, Narumi Kurosaki, a student at the University of Tsukuba in the eastern Japan prefecture of Ibaraki, disappeared in Besancon in eastern France, where she had been studying.

The 29-year-old suspect, who now lives in Santiago, the capital of Chile, is on the international wanted list on suspicion of killing the Japanese woman, his former girlfriend. He has been prohibited from leaving the country and ordered to visit a police office once every week, for runaway prevention.

On April 2, the Chilean top court accepted a request from French prosecutors for the extradition of Zepeda. But the defense side challenged the ruling on April 7.

On Monday, the defense side's appeal, handled by a different bench of the top court, was rejected.

Joining the extradition-related trial on behalf of French prosecutors, Chilean prosecutors welcomed the top court's decision and said arrangements for Zepeda's transfer will be made to put him on trial in France.

French prosecutors claimed in the trial that Kurosaki was killed by Zepeda in a jealous rage.

Kurosaki's younger sister testified: "Nicolas was excessively attached to my sister. It was clear to all that he always wanted to have her to himself."

Meanwhile, the defense side argued that no evidence supporting Kurosaki's death or her murder has been presented, as her body has yet to be found.

In rejecting the appeal on Monday, the top court said the request for the extradition of Zepeda was submitted with verbal evidence and photographs, which allowed it to infer that the request was reasonably grounded.

JIJI Press