Paris trial of 4 in priest’s IS-claimed murder begins

By NICOLAS VAUX-MONTAGNY
The Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — Four people are being tried on charges of conspiracy to commit a terrorist act in connection with the murder of a Catholic priest in a Normandy church in 2016. Father Jacques Hamel was killed by two 19-year-old attackers as he celebrated Mass on a quiet summer weekday in the small Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack. The four men going on trial on Monday are suspected of having helped or encouraged the attack. Only three were present at the Paris court. The fourth, Rachid Kassim, a notorious Islamic State recruiter, is being tried in abstentia: he is believed to have been killed in Iraq. The verdict is scheduled to be rendered on March 11.