Charlie Hebdo: The trial of the defendants in the attack on the French magazine began more than 5 years ago

The trial of 14 people in France in the case of the attack on the satirical magazine “Charlie Hebdo” began more than five years ago.

The suspects are accused of aiding Islamist militants who attacked the magazine and killed 12 people in and around its offices in January 2015, after it published controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

Another gunman shot a policeman and attacked a Jewish store.

A total of 17 people died in three days, and these events marked the beginning of a wave of attacks in France that left more than 250 dead.

Millions of people marched in solidarity in the days after the attacks, in France and around the world, under the slogan “I am Charlie.”

Coinciding with the start of the trial, the magazine reprinted the cartoons that had sparked protests in several Islamic countries. French President Emmanuel Macron defended freedom of the press and “freedom of blasphemy, linked to freedom of conscience.”

• Charlie Hebdo Magazine Reissues Controversial Drawings Of Prophet Muhammad

What is expected of the trial?

14 people are charged with helping to prepare and plan the 2015 attacks. Their trial began on Wednesday, after proceedings were postponed for almost four months due to the Corona epidemic.

The judge presiding over the court sessions said last March that it was impossible to bring all the parties together in court in light of the conditions of the epidemic.

The defendants face charges of obtaining weapons and logistical support for the attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo magazine on January 7, 2015 and the attack on a policeman and a supermarket.

Three of the accused are believed to have disappeared in northern Syria and Iraq and will be tried in their absentia. According to some reports, the three defendants were killed in raids against ISIS militants, but this has not been confirmed.

About 200 people representing the prosecution will attend the trial, as will many witnesses who survived the attacks and are expected to testify, according to French radio station RFI.

On Monday, the prosecutor rejected the accusation that those currently facing trial were among the few important elements who helped organize the attacks. He added that all these things are essential and important to the perpetrators of the attacks.

The court sessions are expected to last through November.

What happened in 2015?

On January 7, two armed men, Sherif and Said Kouachi, attacked the offices of the Parisian magazine Charlie Hebdo and fired at employees.

The magazine’s editor, Stephane Charbonnier, known as “Sharp”, was one of the famous cartoonists killed.

The gunmen eventually died after being pursued by the police. Eight journalists, a policeman, a doorman and a visitor also died.

In a related attack a few days later, a person named Amide Coulibaly killed three customers and an employee at a Jewish supermarket east of Paris.

The police raided the supermarket, killed the attacker and released the remaining hostages.

Why did you join Charlie Hebdo magazine?

The weekly is known for poking fun at the system and religion and has always sparked controversy with its cartoons.

Cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad threatened the magazine’s editor, Sharp, who required 24-hour police protection for him. The magazine’s offices were attacked in 2011.

Some saw the magazine’s work as a manifestation of freedom of opinion and many defended it with the hashtag “I am Charlie.”

Sharp vigorously defended the cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, saying they were a symbol of freedom of expression.

On Tuesday, the magazine reprinted the cartoon that sparked the 2015 attack.

“We have not done this before, not because it is prohibited, but because we were waiting for an occasion to justify publication,” the magazine said in its editorial editorial.

She added: “The decision to republish these cartoons in the week of the trial related to the events of January 2015 was important to us.”