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Emmanuel Macron (May 2020): Representations Covered by Freedom of Conscience.
Photo: Francois Mori / Pool / AFP
The fatal attack on the satirical newspaper "Charlie Hebdo" was five years ago - now those responsible have to face the court.
Before the trial began, French President Emmanuel Macron defended the right to blasphemy in his country.
The right to blasphemous statements and representations is covered in France by freedom of conscience.
Macron said on Tuesday during a visit to the Lebanese capital Beirut.
His role as president is to "protect these freedoms," Macron said.
It is not the job of the French President to judge the editorial decisions of a journalist or an editorial team.
At the beginning of the trial, "Charlie Hebdo" wants to re-publish the Mohammed cartoons, which had sparked severe criticism among Muslims.
"We will never rest. We will never give up," wrote reaction leader Laurent Sourisseau alias "Riss" on Tuesday in the online edition.
Starting Wednesday morning, eleven suspects will have to answer to a jury for "membership in a terrorist group".
Three other men have been charged in absentia; they are wanted on an international arrest warrant.
The pair of brothers had been shot dead by the police
The suspects are said to have supported the Islamist brothers Chérif and Saïd Kouachi, who stormed the editorial offices of Charlie Hebdo in January 2015 and killed twelve people, including some of France's most famous cartoonists.
In addition, the accused are said to have supported another Islamist who then killed a policewoman and four customers of a supermarket visited by Jews.
The accused face imprisonment up to life imprisonment.
The Kouachi brothers themselves were tracked down and killed by a special police unit after a two-day chase.
The Mohammed cartoons are to appear on the cover of Wednesday's edition.
It will show a dozen cartoons that were first published in 2005 by the Danish daily "Jyllands-Posten" and reprinted by "Charlie Hebdo" in 2006.
Many Muslims around the world felt provoked by the prints.
Pakistan protests against republication of the pictures
A drawing of the Prophet by the "Charlie Hebdo" caricaturist Jean Cabut - known as "Cabu" - is also to be shown on the cover of the new edition.
Cabu was among those killed in the attack.
The government in Pakistan sharply criticized the reprint of the Mohammed cartoons.
Pakistan condemns this "in the strongest possible way", it said in a statement published on Twitter by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The republication would deliberately hurt "the feelings of billions of Muslims".
This cannot be justified with the freedom of the press or freedom of expression.
There are strict laws against blasphemy in Pakistan.
Insulting the Prophet Mohammed can be punished there with the death penalty.
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