Charlie Hebdo and Hyper Cacher attacks trial delayed over virus

The trial of 14 people accused of aiding jihadist gunmen who targeted the Charlie Hebdo newspaper and other Paris targets including a kosher supermarket in January 2015 has been postponed until September, after courts were almost totally shut down in France’s coronavirus fight, prosecutors say.

Seventeen people were killed over three days in and around the city after brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi massacred 12 people at the offices of the satirical paper, heralding a wave of Islamic attacks on French soil in the following years.

After years of investigations, the trial was to open in May, but confinement rules imposed by authorities to slow the coronavirus outbreak prompted prosecutors to announce a delay last week.

It is now to open on September 2 and run until November 10, France’s anti-terrorism prosecutors says.

Two days after the Charlie Hebdo killings, the Kouachi brothers were cornered and killed by security forces at a printing company outside Paris.

That same day, Amedy Coulibaly opened fire at a kosher supermarket in eastern Paris, killing four, a day after he killed a young policewoman in Paris. He also was killed by security forces during the siege.

All three gunmen had claimed allegiance to jihadist groups.

The 14 suspects facing trial are accused of providing logistical aid to the attackers.

— AFP