Video retransmission for second trial of anaesthetist sentenced to life imprisonment
The appeal of Frédéric Péchier, imprisoned for a series of poisonings in the Doubs, will be broadcast on screen in Besançon from September 2027.
Video retransmission for second trial of anaesthetist sentenced to life imprisonment
From September 2027, the Lyon assize court will hear the appeal of former anaesthetist Frédéric Péchier. Victims and their relatives will be able to follow all hearings from Besançon, where live broadcast will be organised in the premises of the court of appeal, according to ICI Besançon on Tuesday 2 June.
This possibility was formally agreed during a preparatory meeting bringing together magistrates from the two courts in Lyon and Besançon. Following the first trial, which concluded in late 2025, the Yonne tribunal sentenced the practitioner to life imprisonment with a period of security of twenty-two years. He was found guilty of administering toxic substances to thirty patients in two health establishments in Besançon over a period spanning 2008 to 2017. Twelve people died from these injections.
The defence counsel for the defendant as well as the lawyers representing the one hundred fifty civil parties participated in this technical meeting. One of the lawyers for the victims, Frédéric Berna, detailed the arrangements to ICI Besançon: "The precise details of the technical and organisational implementation will come later, but the principle is established: there will clearly be a live video retransmission of the trial in the rooms of the Besançon court of appeal for civil parties who wish to attend, as well as for the public, like any public trial."
A webradio could also be set up. "It is also being considered, as was done for the Nice attacks trial, to offer them a webradio: that is to say a radio broadcast channel with access exclusively reserved for civil parties which would then retransmit the proceedings solely by audio means," the lawyer added.
This additional aspect aims to allow people who cannot travel daily to Lyon or stay in Besançon to nevertheless follow the proceedings.
Source: France Info