French magazine Charlie Hebdo to republish controversial Mohammed cartoons as terror trials start

From the French edition of The Local

French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, the target of a massacre by Islamist gunmen in January 2015, said on Tuesday that it was republishing hugely controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed to mark the start of the trial this week of alleged accomplices in the attack. “We will never lie down. We will never give up,” wrote its director Laurent “Riss” Sourisseau in an editorial to go with the republication of the cartoons in its latest edition.

Twelve people, including some of France’s most celebrated cartoonists, were killed on January 7th, 2015, when brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi went on a gun rampage at the paper’s offices.

The trial had been delayed several months due to the coronavirus epidemic.

The court in Paris will sit until November 10th and, in a first for a terror trial, proceedings will be filmed for archival purposes given public interest.

Of the 14 suspects, three are being tried in absentia: Hayat Boumedienne, the partner of Coulibaly, and the Belhoucine brothers Mohamed and Mehdi.

Facing the most serious charge of complicity in terror and a maximum sentence of life in jail, are Mohamed Belhoucine, the elder of the two brothers, and Ali Riza Polat, 35, a French citizen of Turkish origin who will be the most prominent of the accused in the dock.

Polat, seen as close to Coulibaly, is suspected of having played a central role in preparing the attacks, notably by helping to build up the arsenal used by the three perpetrators. He is also accused of providing help “at all stages of the preparation”.

Most of the other suspects are on trial for association with a terror group, a crime that comes with a jail sentence of up to 20 years.