THE TRIAL OF THE 2015 TERRORIST ATTACKS IN PARIS OVER CHARLIE HEBDO STARTS TODAY

USPA NEWS - The trial of the January 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris targeting Charlie Hebdo, then the Montrouge police officer and clients of the Hyper Kosher began today in France. This trial, held in Palais de Justice of Paris, which will last more than two months, will be unique in its scope, given the absence of the main defendants but also by its exceptional character, by transmission, television, filming for the archives of justice. This trial which takes place, in "masked" ways for everyone (magistrates, lawyers, families of the victims, accomplices of the attackers), because of the COVID-19 pandemic, risks becoming historic, by the tenacity of its tragedy , linked to terrorism, but also by the current context of COVID'19 “which will mark history“. More than five years after the events, the trial of the Charlie Hebdo and Hyper Kosher attacks is due to open on Wednesday September 2 and continue until November 10.

THE HISTORIC TRIAL CONSISTS OF 200 CIVIL PLAINTIFFS AND 144 WITNESSES AND 14 EXPERTS On an "unprecedented scale", it is expected to bring together 200 civil parties, 144 witnesses and 14 experts. Originally scheduled for May 4 to July 10, it had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak.----------------------------------------------- Fourteen people appear before a special assize court in the Paris court. They are accused of having, to varying degrees, provided logistical assistance to brothers Chérif and Saïd Kouachi, as well as Amedy Coulibaly. In January 2015, the first two led an attack on the editorial staff of the satirical Charlie Hebdo newspaper, killing 12 people, the second killing a policewoman and four kosher supermarket customers.These events were "the first wave of jihadist attacks in France which have since claimed the lives of more than 250 people," said El Pais. For the Spanish daily, this trial will also "force France to reflect on its position [...] on crucial issues such as freedom of expression and the right to blasphemy, secularism or anti-Semitism".Three accused absent from the hearing Three of the suspects will be absent from the hearing: Amedy Coulibaly's companion, Hayat Boumeddiene, and the Belhoucine brothers have been missing since they left Syria for a few days