Trial of Suspects in 2015 Terrorist Attacks Reportedly Begins in France

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - A special criminal court in Paris will start its largest trial ever, arraigning 20 people accused of being involved in a series of coordinated terrorist attacks in November 2015, French media outlets have reported.

On 13 November 2015, three suicide bombers struck outside the Stade de France in Saint-Denis north of Paris during a busy football game. In a simultaneous attack, a squad including another suicide bomber began indiscriminately shooting at people in cafes and restaurants in central Paris, and another terrorist group carried out a mass shooting and took hostages at a rock concert attended by some 1,500 people.

The high security trial, which has been in the making for two years, is expected to span nine months. With the case files exceeding a million pages, judges will hear more than 300 witnesses, France 24 said.

Fourteen of the accused – who face a range of charges from providing logistical support, to planning and weapons offences – are expected to be present in court. Six more suspects are being tried in absentia. Five of them are presumed dead, mainly in air raids in Syria, including the French brothers Fabien and Jean-Michel Clain.

Salah Abdeslam is the only perpetrator of the deadly bombing still alive, according to reports. He is accused of bringing the two terrorists who detonated explosive belts to the Stade de France.

If the court proceedings go as scheduled, the verdict should be announced on 24-25 May 2022.

The attacks left 130 people dead and 350 others injured. Daesh* claimed responsibility for the incident, saying it was retaliation for French airstrikes on Daesh targets in Syria and Iraq.

*Daesh is a terrorist organisation banned in Russia and many other countries.