"He was indicted for seven" of the eight new cases for which he was heard by Judge Marjolaine Poinsard on Wednesday, "and for the last, he was placed as an assisted witness", indicated Randall Schwerdorffer.

The public prosecutor of Besançon, Etienne Manteaux, must hold a press conference at the end of the afternoon on the file.

Right to silence

Me Schwerdorffer was however not able to specify immediately how many fatal cases on this series were blamed on his client.

Doctor Péchier remained silent in front of the magistrate and “did not answer” her questions, indicated the lawyer, who had hinted in recent days that the anesthetist could opt for the strategy of silence.

The defense will challenge these new indictments before the investigating chamber of the Besançon Court of Appeal, Mr. Schwerdorffer also announced.

Frédéric Péchier is suspected of having polluted the infusion bags of patients between 2008 and 2017 in two private clinics in Besançon to cause cardiac arrest and then demonstrate his talents as a resuscitator, but also to discredit colleagues with whom he was in conflict.

Frédéric Péchier arrives at the Besançon court on March 8, 2023 © ARNAUD FINISTRE / AFP

The case began when an anesthetist from a clinic in Besançon sounded the alarm after three unexplained cardiac arrests of her patients in full operation.

The infusion bags had been seized and analyzes had revealed "potassium doses 100 times higher than normal", said prosecutor Etienne Manteaux.

In January 2017, a judicial investigation was opened and two months later, Frédéric Péchier, who worked in this clinic, was indicted and placed under judicial supervision for the first seven cases of alleged poisoning of patients.

The direction of the clinic had then presented to the investigators of the judicial police of Besançon 66 cases of SAE (serious adverse event) occurring in their establishment.

These investigations led, in May 2019, to the indictment of Dr. Péchier for 17 new cases of poisoning, i.e. a total of 24 cases concerning patients aged 4 to 80, including nine fatalities.

Free under judicial control, Mr. Péchier had arrived shortly before 9 a.m. with Me Schwerdorffer at the Besançon judicial court.

Imposing build, salt and pepper beard and closed face, he rushed into the court without any comment.

Wednesday marked the start of a long series of hearings before the judge: eight other days were scheduled for March to summarize all the indictments in this case.

"Postponed" interrogations

But at the end of Wednesday's hearing, the interrogations were postponed "to March 22", said Mr. Schwerdorffer.

Frédéric Péchier, who lives in Vienne, has seen his judicial review recently lightened and can now return to Doubs to see his family.

He had made a suicide attempt in September 2021 and had been hospitalized for several weeks.

He is still "dejected" and "lived like a relentlessness the last order of the judge which prohibits him from practicing medicine", while a previous decision prohibited him only from the practice of anesthesia and resuscitation, had indicated before the hearing Randall Schwerdorffer.

The defense appealed this ban, according to Me Schwerdorffer.

© 2023 AFP