Deep-Freeze take 3
Pardon the convoluted style and possible odd mistakes, the original is badly written, and this is a rush job.
Frozen babies: French couple talked to Tours police, but free to go
TOURS [AFP] - The French couple, expatriated in South Korea, in whose freezer the corpses of two newborns were found, went to talk with Tours police on their own initiative, and were free to go after two hours of interrogation.
“This was just an interview; the police couldn’t hold them for further interrogation, as they saw that the case was quite empty,” their lawyer, Marc Morin, told AFP.
He emphasised the fact that the interview was done at Jean-Louis Courjault’s and his spouse’s request, after the south korean police, prosecution and press had implied their responsibility, following the discovery late July of the bodies of two newborns in their freezer, wrapped in plastic bags.
“The Korean prosecution went public with elements without measuring their consequences,” the lawyer added, stating he was surprised by the “media and diplomatic frenzy deployed in Korea about this case.”
He also mentioned the possibility of an “economic manipulation, staged to discredit” Mr. Courjault, a high-level engineer for an American company based in Seoul.
Mr and Mrs Courjault, both in their 40s, have two sons, aged 10 and 11. They arrived on foot at Tours precinct, their faces drawb. They left by an out-of-the-way exit, without talking to the press.
According to the South Korean police, Mr. Courjault himself discovered the babies on July 23, during a short business trip back to Seoul on his own, a month after his holidays had started.
He immediately went to a police station to report the discovery, “which wouldn’t have been exactly in his interest had he been involved anywhere in this case,” his lawyer emphasised.
After a first investigation, the South Korean police allowed Mr. Courjault to go back to France. Later, they published the results of DNA tests which would tend to prove that the couple are the parents of the babies. Morin said that the couple had steadfastly contested the validity of these tests.
A preliminary investigation has been opened this week in Tours, in Indre Et Loire, where the couiple has a house and are currently spending their vacation.
However, “French prosecutors are still waiting for an official request for mutual assistance from South Korean authorities,” stated Sylvie Pantz, from the Orléans DA office, in charge of communicating with the press on this case.
However, when taking into accounts problems related to translation and summer vacations, it may take “months” before elements held by South Korean authorities reach French investigators, Pantz added.
The South Korean police declared they wanted the French couple back in Seoul for interrogation.
“Considering the media frenzy around this case in South Korea, my clients do not wish to return there, and intend to stay in France for the time being,” stated Morin, their lawyer.