Toulouse killer’s brother before judge on complicity charges

The older brother of the Toulouse killer was presented Sunday to a judge to face charges of complicity in murder and of planning terror attacks, prosecutors said.

Abdelkader Merah, 29, denies helping Mohamed Merah, 23, kill his victims but has said he was “proud” of him and admitted he was present when he stole the powerful scooter on which he fled after carrying out the murders, police said.

Prosecutors said Abdelkader was presented to a Paris judge on charges of criminal conspiracy aimed at planning terrorist acts and of complicity in murders and gang robbery.

Police uncovered evidence that showed his likely “participation as an accomplice in the committing of crimes linked to a terrorist enterprise,” prosecutors said in a statement.

Merah and his girlfriend were taken in for questioning on Wednesday, a day before Mohamed Merah died in a hail of police bullets after a 32-hour siege on his apartment in Toulouse in southwestern France.

The girlfriend was released without charge from custody earlier Sunday.

Police and prosecutors have described Abdelkader as a more radical Islamist than his brother.

Mohamed Merah, labeled a “monster” by President Nicolas Sarkozy, killed three paratroopers, three Jewish schoolchildren and a trainee rabbi in a series of gun attacks.