France awaits verdict in Charlie Hebdo trial source: AFP

dpa/NAN

A verdict is expected on Wednesday in the trial of 14 people accused of helping organize a terrorist attack on the offices of the French satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, in January 2015.

Prosecutors have demanded sentences of between five years and life for the alleged attackers, three of whom are being tried in absentia.

The verdict from the court, specially set up for terrorist cases, had to wait while the trial was put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The court has considered not only the attack on Charlie Hebdo but also the attack which followed on a kosher supermarket in the south of Paris.

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The three attackers in that incident were shot dead by security forces.

Seventeen people in total were killed in the attacks.

The main defendant, Ali Riza Polat, who is accused of playing a central role, is preparing the attacks.

He faces a possible life sentence if convicted.