For the first time since the start of his trial, Jean-Marc Reiser will be able to speak this Friday before the Assize Court of Bas-Rhin, in Strasbourg. Prosecuted for the murder of a young student, Sophie Le Tan, on September 7, 2018, he will answer questions from the Court and try to prove that his crime was not premeditated.
“He is in a hurry to be able to explain himself”
The trial of Jean-Marc Reiser, accused of the assassination of Sophie Le Tan in September 2018, continues at the Assizes of Bas-Rhin, in Strasbourg. This Friday afternoon will be a key moment: the 61-year-old man with a heavy criminal record will be questioned about the facts. He had ended up, after having denied it for a long time, by admitting to having killed the student at his home, during an apartment visit, but he still refutes any idea of premeditation. It will be the first time that he will speak on the length.
For four days, in his box, Jean-Marc Reiser must listen without being able to intervene. A real test of patience, for this 61-year-old man who is eager to be able to express himself. “I felt frustrated to be somehow reduced to silence,” confirms one of his lawyers, Me Francis Metzger. “You may have noticed that he writes, that he passes us sheets, reflections, observations. He is very eager to be able to explain himself”.
“A chess player who is always two or three moves ahead”
Jean-Marc Reiser will in particular have to explain himself on the eight telephone lines he had, as well as his numerous pseudonyms on the Internet, the various apartment advertisements posted online in the weeks preceding Sophie’s death. The extremely meticulous cleaning of his apartment after the crime and the way he dismembered the girl’s body.
In recent days, Jean-Marc Reiser’s former companions and psychologists have described a very cultured, intelligent, cunning man, a “chess player who is always two or three moves ahead”. Someone violent, who can’t stand the annoyance and rejection of women. He wants to control everything, avoids questions that bother him. So how will he behave during this interrogation, he who knows the file by heart and quibbles over the details?
In any case, those close to Sophie Le Tan do not expect anything from Jean-Marc Reiser. If not, maybe one word: sorry.