From AP, with thanks to Twostellas:
PARIS – Ten suspected Islamic militants, including one of Osama bin Laden’s alleged associates, went on trial Wednesday in connection with the millennium plot to attack the Christmas market in the eastern French city of Strasbourg.
Eight of the suspects were on hand for the trial at the Paris criminal court. Another is detained in Britain while one who had been released pending trial did not appear in court. All are Algerians or French-Algerians.
The trial is expected to last three months.
Four of the suspects allegedly trained in the use of arms and explosives in al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan in the 1990s.
All are suspected of involvement, to varying degrees, in a plan to attack the market on New Year’s Eve 2000. The well-known market is set up around the city cathedral during the Christmas period and becomes a major gathering place.