EXPLAINER: What’s at stake in the 2015 Paris attacks trial?

By ARNO PEDRAM
Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — Twenty men accused in the Islamic State group’s 2015 attacks on Paris that left 130 people dead and hundreds injured are on trial in the French capital. The proceedings began Wednesday in an enormous custom-designed chamber. Nine gunmen and suicide bombers struck within minutes of each other at the national soccer stadium, the Bataclan concert hall and restaurants and cafes. The lone survivor of the extremist cell from that night is among those being tried for the deadliest attack in France since World War II. Only 14 men will be at the trial. Six men being tried in absentia. Most face the maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted. The trial is scheduled to last nine months, with a verdict expected in May.