Anesthetist Frédéric Péchier, at the courthouse in the eastern French city of Besançon, on September 8, 2025. SEBASTIEN BOZON/AFP
Amid a church-like stillness, Prosecutor Thérèse Brunisso recited the names of patients from the Saint-Vincent Clinic, in the eastern French city of Besançon, whose highly suspicious deaths had been examined by the criminal court since the legal proceedings began, nine weeks before. Her tone was solemn: "Mr. Iehlen, Ms. Ziegler, Ms. Noblet, Ms. Varguet, Ms. Gaugey, Mr. dos Santos, Mr. Benoît. That's a lot of deaths, isn't it?"
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Frédéric Péchier, an anesthesiologist accused of 30 poisonings, goes on trial
The hearing on Tuesday, November 4, was the 10th interrogation of anesthetist Frédéric Péchier, who stands accused of 30 poisonings. "Yes," Péchier replied, speaking from the stand, "but that has to be spread out over 10 years. There are risky surgical procedures, and there is bound to be damage." The second prosecutor, Christine de Curraize, immediately pushed back: "That makes no sense. There's nothing to 'spread out' because it's totally abnormal: we're talking about poi-son-ings!" she said, stretching out the syllables. "If there's a poisoner, they need to be found, but it's not me," Péchier said calmly, strongly supported by his lawyer, Randall Schwerdorffer, who has repeatedly criticized what he dubs the prosecution's "imagination."
