PARIS – The primary suspect in a trial over the 2015 Charlie Hebdo massacre has tested positive for the coronavirus, and the court has been suspended until Wednesday, said lawyers.
Ali Riza Polat is accused of having helped the killers of 12 people in the attack on the satirical weekly, a female police officer a day later, and four hostages at a Jewish supermarket.
He is facing the most serious charge of the suspected accomplices on trial – complicity in terrorist crimes – and could face life in jail if convicted.
The 35-year-old vomited and was seen by a doctor, prompting the judge to suspend the court until next week.
The 10 accused accomplices must now be tested, and “the resumption of the trial will depend on the results of these tests and the development of the health of the people concerned”, said presiding judge Regis de Jorna in an email to lawyers yesterday.
He urged everyone in court to observe social distancing, and insisted that all participants wear a mask.
The suspension will delay the conclusion of the trial, which opened on September 2.
Defence lawyers were scheduled to plead on November 6, 9, 10 and 11, with the verdict expected on November 13.
Fourteen people are on trial in the special terrorism court over their support for the jihadist trio who carried out the attack in January 2015. All of the attackers were shot dead by police.
Described as the “right arm” of attacker Amedy Coulibaly, Polat was born in Istanbul but moved to France when he was 3, and like Coulibaly, grew up in the city of Grande Borne in Grigny, in the suburbs of Paris.
France returned to lockdown on Friday after a sharp rise in Covid-19 cases, in the latest measure to curb a disease that has infected more than 44.5 million people worldwide and killed nearly 1.2 million. – AFP, November 1, 2020
