TRIAL OF 2015 ‘CHARLIE HEBDO’ MASSACRE SUSPECTS IN PARIS STARTS

Fourteen persons accused of involvement in the terror attacks that killed 17 people in Paris in January 2015 were Wednesday due to go on trial on Wednesday, September 2, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) reported. 

The 14 are facing a variety of charges, including terrorist conspiracy and complicity in various offenses including murder. Eleven are in custody while three wanted suspects will be tried in absentia.

The three gunmen who actually carried out the attacks were all subsequently shot dead by police. Two of them attacked the office of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo - which 10 years earlier had controversially republished Danish cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed - killing 12 people. 

A third killed a traffic policewoman in a Paris suburb and then attacked a kosher supermarket, killing four staff and customers. The attacks were the first in a series of major Islamist atrocities that cost more than 230 lives in France in 2015 and 2016. The trial is expected to run until November 10, with stepped-up security in place at the main Paris courts complex.