Thirty patients poisoned, 12 of whom died: at the end of an exceptional three-and-a-half-month trial, anesthesiologist Frédéric Péchier was sentenced Thursday in Besançon to life imprisonment for all the charges against him, a verdict against which he will appeal.
"Twelve dead, 18 survivors: he is the greatest criminal of the century, one of the greatest criminals in French judicial history," commented Stéphane Giuranna, lawyer for many civil parties, believing that the verdict "could not have been otherwise."
The sentence includes a mandatory minimum term of 22 years. "You will be incarcerated immediately," the presiding judge, Delphine Thibierge, told the convicted man. The doctor, who appeared in court as a free man before the Doubs Assize Court, had never been detained since the start of the investigation in 2017.
The court followed the prosecution's recommendation, which had sought a life sentence for the 53-year-old former star doctor, whom it accused of "using medicine to kill."
Conversely, his lawyer, Randall Schwerdorffer, had asked the court to acquit him "outright," citing a lack of irrefutable evidence. On Thursday, Schwerdorffer reaffirmed his conviction of his client's innocence and announced that he would appeal and "request his release."
"This is the end of a nightmare," said Sandra Simard, one of the victims. "We'll have a slightly more peaceful Christmas," reacted another victim, Jean-Claude Gandon.
The anesthesiologist's entire family had come to support him. His daughters, in tears after the announcement of the first guilty verdicts, left the courtroom.
"He is a very reserved person, who is not very expressive about his emotions," said Mr. Schwerdorffer.
– “I am not a poisoner” –
This verdict comes after 15 weeks of intense, sometimes technical, and often poignant hearings. The crimes were committed between 2008 and 2017 in two private clinics in Besançon, on patients aged 4 to 89.
When given the floor one last time on Monday, Frédéric Péchier again proclaimed his innocence. "I am not a poisoner," he asserted.
According to the prosecution, the doctor contaminated IV bags with various substances to induce cardiac arrest or hemorrhaging in patients undergoing surgery performed by colleagues. His objective: to "psychologically harm" healthcare workers with whom he was in conflict and to "feed his thirst for power," according to the prosecutor's office.
After refuting this theory during the investigation, Frédéric Péchier finally admitted during the trial that a poisoner had indeed been at work in one of the two private clinics where he had worked. But he consistently maintained that it was not him.
– Awaiting explanation –
The trial alternated between heartbreaking testimonies from victims and tense exchanges with an accused man described sometimes as a serial killer devoid of empathy, sometimes as a "broken man".
Brittle and inflexible during interrogations, the accused shed tears on December 5 when talking about his suicide attempt in 2021, but he remained impassive during the heavy case brought against him last week by the two representatives of the prosecution.
While the verdict is a relief for the victims, questions remain open.
We felt "moved and relieved" that "Dad was recognized as a victim," said Olivier Py. But the appeal trial, "it's going to be tough (...) we're starting from scratch."
Mr. Frédéric Berna regretted that Frédéric Péchier had not confessed.
“We may have had some hope that his humanity would return and that he would be able to offer some explanation,” said the lawyer for the civil parties. “I believe that his only dignified way out today (…) would be for him to resign himself to telling us: ‘This is why I did it, this is what I did, this is what went through my mind.’”
Archibald Celeyron, lawyer for the father of Tedy, the youngest victim aged 4 at the time, also said he hoped to obtain "explanations" during the appeal trial, in order to find out "why he poisoned these people".
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