Attacker’s brother acquitted of complicity

FRANCE: The older brother of a man who killed Jewish schoolchildren and paratroopers in southern France was convicted yesterday of having ties to a terrorist enterprise but found not guilty of complicity in his sibling’s deadly attacks.

A Paris court sentenced Abdelkader Merah, 35, to 20 years in prison after a tense and emotional trial over the slayings his younger brother, Mohammed Merah, carried out in the Toulouse region in March 2012. The shootings marked the first of what became a wave of attacks in France perpetrated by homegrown Islamic extremists.

The trial was the only opportunity for families of the seven victims – three Jewish schoolchildren, a teacher and three paratroopers – to seek public justice. Days after his deadly rampage, Mohammed Merah, 23, was killed by France’s police special forces after a 32-hour standoff.

The younger Merah trained with al Qaeda-linked extremists in Pakistan. During his standoff with the elite police unit, he spoke with an intelligence negotiator and claimed to have acted on behalf of the al Qaeda group.

Abdelkader Merah was accused of radicalising his younger brother, but always denied helping Mohammed plan or prepare for the fatal shootings he executed from a powerful motor scooter.

After eight hours of deliberations, the five professional magistrates who heard the case convicted Merah of a lesser crime – taking part in a criminal terrorist association with his brother and others.

But the court acquitted him of the most serious charge – complicity in the terror murders Mohammed committed, for which he faced a maximum sentence of life in prison. Presiding Judge Franck Zientara said there was no proof the older Merah helped his brother set up or carry out his nine-day shooting spree.

The verdict was received calmly by the victims’ families, who occupied the courtroom’s first benches. The mothers of two of the three paratroopers killed by Mohammed Merah cried. – AP