High-stakes Charlie Hebdo trial put on ice over COVID infections

Primary suspect and 2 other defendants on trial for attacks on satirical magazine and kosher market test positive for coronavirus; results expected for others Monday

The trial over the 2015 Charlie Hebdo attack has been delayed for at least a week after two more defendants tested positive for coronavirus, the presiding lawyer said.

Fourteen people are on trial accused of having helped the killers of 12 victims in the attack on satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, a female police officer a day later, and four hostages at a Jewish supermarket.

After primary suspect Ali Riza Polat received a COVID-19 diagnosis over the weekend, the presiding judge ordered all those on trial to be tested.

“In view of the health protocols in force requiring isolation of both positive and contact cases, the hearing will not be able to resume this week,” Regis de Jorna said in an email sent Sunday to lawyers involved in the case.

The trial had already been suspended until Wednesday following Polat’s positive diagnosis, with Jorna telling lawyers the court would not sit again until all the results were in.

A sign which translates as “Charlie Hebdo – Sold Out” is displayed as a customer holds a copy of the magazine outside a newsagents in Dunkirk on January 14, 2015. (photo credit: AFP/PHILIPPE HUGUEN)

Two further defendants then tested positive, with two others remaining under supervision despite negative results as they were believed to be “contact cases,” according to Jorna’s email.

The results from the other defendants, detained in Fleury-Merogis, are due Monday.

The extended suspension of the hearing will further delay the conclusion of the trial, which opened on September 2.

A policeman stands guard on January 21, 2015, in front the Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket where jihadist gunman Amedy Coulibaly killed four Jewish men on January 9, 2015 in Paris. (AFP/Eric Feferberg)

Defense lawyers were scheduled to plead on November 6, 9, 10 and 11 with the verdict expected on 13.

France returned to lockdown last week in the latest measure to curb a disease that has infected more than 44.5 million people worldwide and killed nearly 1.2 million.