Charlie Hebdo, Hyper Cacher attacks trial suspended after accused falls ill

The trial in Paris over the January 2015 terror attacks on the Charlie Hebdo satirical weekly and a kosher supermarket was suspended for one day Thursday after one of the accused fell ill in the box.

The defendant, Nezar Mickael Pastor Alwatik, will undergo diagnostic tests including for COVID-19, his lawyer says.

Judge Regis de Jorna announces in court that the trial was being suspended until Friday at 9:30 a.m. (0730 GMT) to allow time for the medical exams.

Pastor Alwatik’s lawyer Marie Dose says her client had been suffering from “a lot of fever, coughing, vomiting and headaches.”

She says such symptoms were worrying in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic and warned that hearings should not even resume Friday if his test result was not yet in.

The defendant was taken to the Fleury-Merogis prison outside Paris for the tests.

— AFP