Mélina Facchin with Juliette Moreau Alvarez 11:59 a.m., June 28, 2022, modified at 12:00 p.m., June 28, 2022
The trial of Jean-Marc Reiser opened on Monday June 27 at the Assises de Strasbourg.
The 61-year-old man is being prosecuted for the assassination of Sophie Le Tan in September 2018. The sexagenarian, who denied it for a very long time, ended up confessing to the crime but still refutes any premeditation.
The first day of his trial was intense for the victim's family and allowed them to begin to paint a portrait of the alleged assassin.
At the opening of the trial, Jean-Marc Reiser persists: he did not premeditate the murder of Sophie Le Tan.
In September 2018, the young girl, who celebrated her 20th birthday that day, had disappeared while going to visit an apartment.
His body was found a year later, dismembered and buried in a forest.
Quickly, the investigators went back to Jean-Marc Reiser, already convicted of rape in 2003 and acquitted for lack of evidence in another case of disappearance in 2001. The 61-year-old accused had long denied having killed Sophie Le Tan, before confess the facts in January 2021. At the bar, his first confrontation with the family of the victim was dreaded, and the first day of the trial very tense.
Sophie le Tan's mother evacuated from the courtroom
A sign of the tension that reigned in the courtroom, Sophie Le Tan's mother burst into tears at the sight of the accused.
After a few minutes, unable to stand on her legs, she felt unwell and had to be evacuated by rescuers.
She was unable to return to the courtroom, leaving Sophie Le Tan's father, little brother, uncles, aunts and cousins to deal with the student's alleged killer.
"When she saw Jean-Marc Reiser, it was unbearable, she was on the verge of fainting," said Laurent Tran, Sophie's cousin, at the end of the hearing.
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"He lies about everything, he betrays everyone"
The 61-year-old defendant keeps his head down as he listens to the first witnesses.
In her deposition, her mother evokes "a good son, never violent".
A prison visitor describes him as "intelligent, cultivated".
Pierre Villemin, one of his friends from Restos du Cœur, speaks of a man "always benevolent".
For Maître Gérard Welzer, the lawyer for the Le Tan family, these first elements are already revealing.
"When the last witnesses learned that Jean-Marc Reiser had 30,000 euros in savings when he went to the Restos du Cœur and asked for bread, the witness fell out of the cupboard."
For the lawyer, no doubt, "he lies about everything. He betrays everyone. According to his sister, if he is the one who is guilty, he is a monster".
The accused's former companions will testify at the bar on Tuesday, June 28, the second day of the trial.
Faced with investigators, most have already described a violent and manipulative man.
His trial continues until Friday at the Assises du Bas-Rhin.
Jean-Marc Reiser faces life imprisonment.