PARIS (AP) – The Latest on the 2012 Toulouse attacks trial (all times local):
10:25 a.m.
The first trial in a new era of homegrown jihadi attacks in France has opened in a Paris court under tight security.
The main defendant is a brother of Islamic radical Mohammed Merah, who killed seven people in attacks on a Jewish school and soldiers in the Toulouse region of southern France in 2012.
Mohammed Merah was killed in a shootout with police, and the trial of his brother Abdelkader is the first time a French court is publicly examining the attacks.
Abdelkader Merah, accused of complicity in terrorist murders, entered the courtroom Monday dressed all in white, with a long beard and ponytail. He faces up to life in prison if convicted. He denies wrongdoing.
A verdict is expected in early November.
Three Jewish children, a teacher and three paratroopers, including two Muslims, were killed over nine days, rocking France. Other similar jihadi attacks followed in subsequent years.
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8:30 a.m.
The older brother of a French extremist who killed seven people in a series of attacks on a Jewish school and soldiers goes on trial for complicity in the 2012 shooting spree.
Monday’s criminal trial of 35-year-old Abdelkader Merah will be the first time a French court considers charges in the attacks that took the lives of three Jewish children, a teacher and three paratroopers, over nine days in the Toulouse region.
The gunman, 23-year-old Mohammed Merah died after a 32-hour televised standoff with France’s police special forces. Abdelkader Merah has denied helping his brother prepare for or perpetuate his deadly rampage.
Defense lawyer Eric Dupond-Moretti says the older Merah was charged with complicity to terror and sent to trial “by default” because the actual killer was dead.