The investigating chamber of the Court of Appeal of Grenoble rejected Thursday the motion for annulment filed by the lawyer Nordahl Lelandais against the testimony of a former co-detainee to whom he would have confided, did we learned from the public prosecutor's office. Mr. Alain Jakubowicz, the counsel of the former soldier indicted in several cases, had filed on September 18 a request for cancellation of this statement before the investigating magistrates.
In this testimony, filed in the Maëlys case at the end of 2018, a cell neighbor of Nordahl Lelandais at the prison of Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, in Isère, had claimed that the ex-dog-master had told him that he had raped Maëlys before killing her. . Nordahl Lelandais, who has since been heard about these accusing remarks and confronted with his former co-detainee, disputes this version of the facts. He claims to have killed Maëlys "involuntarily" with several blows to the face and denies any sexual assault.
An application for annulment of the psychological report rejected
The investigating chamber of the Grenoble Court of Appeal also rejected in a second judgment a request for annulment of the psychological expertise to which the alleged murderer of Maëlys has been subjected since his arrest. "The judgment, however, cancels some passages of the psychological expertise, but this does not call into question its conclusions," told AFP the Prosecutor General.
In June, Alain Jakubowicz also filed a psychiatric counter-request for his client, but was denied. Contacted by AFP, the lawyer of the thirties did not wish to comment on these decisions. The investigating chamber has also annulled an indictment of the prosecutor's office of 24 September asking for the indictment of Nordahl Leland for rape "and rejected all other requests for defense," said the prosecutor of the Republic of Grenoble Éric Vaillant . "The prosecution is studying the consequences of this judgment," he added.
The parents of Maëlys claim a referral to the Assize Court for "assassination"
Comforted by the discovery of the testimony of the ex-co-detainee, but also suspicions of sexual assault on several cousins, the parents of the girl have reaffirmed in recent weeks in the press their wish to see Nordahl Lelandais sued for " rape". They also claim that the 30-year-old is sent back to the Assize Court for "murder" and not for "murder", which would expose him to a heavier sentence: life imprisonment without penalty. Me Fabien Rajon, their lawyer, filed a request for requalification of the prosecutions before the magistrates instructors on October 17th. The investigating chamber has one month to rule.
Nordahl Lelandais is indicted for the murder of Maëlys De Araujo in August 2017, as well as for the assassination of Corporal Arthur Noyer in April of the same year. He is also indicted for sexual assault on several small cousins. An investigation for "endangering the lives of others" is also in progress after the complaint of a former companion who accuses him of an attack that occurred, according to her, in mid-July 2017.