The older brother of a French extremist who killed seven people in a series of attacks on a Jewish school and soldiers in 2012 is to go on trial for complicity in the shooting spree. The criminal trial of Abdelkader Merah, 35, starting on Monday, will be the first time a French court considers charges in the attacks that killed three Jewish children, a teacher and three paratroopers in the Toulouse region over a nine-day period.

The 23-year-old gunman, Mohamed Merah, died after a 32-hour televised standoff with France’s police special forces. Abdelkader Merah has been in custody since the days after the Toulouse killings. He has denied helping his brother, who trained with al-Qaida-linked extremists in Pakistan, to prepare for or perpetuate the rampage.

His lawyer, Eric Dupond-Moretti, has said Merah, who faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted of “complicity to murders in relation with a terrorist undertaking”, was sent to trial by default because the actual killer was dead. “There is no evidence in the case file to convict him. That’s what I think, that’s what I’ll say,” Dupond-Moretti told BFM TV in February. The lawyer refused to give interviews as the trial neared. The trial is being held in a special Paris criminal court and heard by judges. It is expected to last a month with about 50 witnesses and a dozen experts called to the stand. A verdict is expected in early November.(Theguardian)…[+]