French Court to Issue Verdict in Charlie Hebdo Trial of 14 Accused Accomplices

A courtroom sketch made on Dec. 14, 2020 shows Ali Riza Polat (C), believed to have been the right-hand man of Amedy Coulibaly, speaks in front of others defendants at Paris' courthouse, Dec. 14, 2020.

A French court is set to issue verdicts Wednesday in the trial of 14 accused accomplices in the deadly 2015 attack on a satirical magazine in Paris.

The trial began in September with three of the accused being tried in absentia.

Prosecutors are asking the court for convictions with sentences ranging from five years to life in prison.

Defense attorneys have criticized the prosecution’s case as lacking evidence that the suspects were involved in the attacks.

FILE - An injured person is transported to an ambulance after a shooting, at the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo's office, in Paris, Jan. 7, 2015.

The three Islamist militant gunmen who killed 12 people at Charlie Hebdo magazine went on to kill four others in related attacks over the course of three days. The gunmen were all killed in shootouts with police.

Charlie Hebdo angered many Muslims by publishing cartoons featuring the Prophet Muhammad, and ahead of the trial it reprinted some of the same cartoons.

Three weeks after the trial began, a Pakistani man armed with a knife attacked two people outside the magazine’s former offices.

In October, a French schoolteacher who used the cartoons in a discussion about free speech was beheaded.