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.
A court sketch made on October 2, 2017 Abdelkader Merah in Paris courthouse during his trial for complicity in the series of shootings commited by his jihadist brother Mohamed in Toulouse and Montauban in 2012.(AFP PHOTO / Benoit PEYRUCQ)
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, enters 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.
8-year-old Miriam Monsonego, daughter of school headmaster Rabbi Yaacov Monsonego, who was killed in a shooting attack at the Ozar Hatorah School in Toulouse, France, on March 19, 2012 (photo credit: Flash90)
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.
Emotions are raw at Monday’s trial as Samuel Sandler, whose son Jonathan and his grandchildren Gabriel and Arieh were killed in the 2012 attacks, denounced the attackers as “rotten people who rot in a hole.”
— AP
Jonathan Sandler, shot to death Monday in Toulouse, France, pictured with his two slain sons and with his wife (who was not hurt in the attack). (photo credit: via Facebook)
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