France Charges Siege Gunman’s Brother as an Accomplice
The brother of a gunman killed in a siege in southwestern France has been charged with complicity in seven murders and two attempted murders and taken into custody, the Paris prosecutor’s office said Sunday.
Abdelkader Merah is also being charged with conspiracy to prepare acts of terrorism and group theft, the prosecutor’s office told CNN. He was arrested Tuesday night as police closed in on his brother Mohammed and faced a anti-terror judge on Sunday.
Mohammed Merah, 23, was killed Thursday at the end of a 32-hour siege of the apartment in the city of Toulouse where he was holed up. He was wanted in the killings of three French paratroopers, a rabbi and three children ages 4, 5, and 7. Two other people were seriously wounded in shootings blamed on him.
A spokeswoman for Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said Saturday an autopsy showed Mohammed Merah had been struck more than 20 times by bullets.
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Most of the impacts were on the arms and legs, Elisabeth Allannic said. There were two deadly wounds on the front left temple and crossing his abdomen, she said.
Police also questioned Mohammed Merah’s mother and his brother Abdelkader’s girlfriend, but have released them without charge, the Paris prosecutor said.
Police union leader Christophe Crepin told French TV news channel i-tele Saturday that Abdelkader Merah and his girlfriend were moved early Saturday from Toulouse to the headquarters of the DCRI, the French counter intelligence agency, in Levallois-Perret, near Paris.
The brothers’ mother, Zoulika Aziri, was released Friday night, police in Toulouse confirmed. She lives in the Toulouse suburb of Mirail, CNN affiliate BFM-TV reported previously.
Police tracked Mohammed Merah down via his mother’s computer IP address, which was apparently used to respond to an ad posted by the first shooting victim, officials said.