France's 'trial of the century' begins over Bataclan terror attacks that killed 130

With 1,800 plaintiffs, 20 defendants and 330 lawyers, the trial is historic.

PARIS -- France's long-awaited "trial of the century" will begin Wednesday in Paris as more than a dozen people tied to the November 2015 terror attacks -- the deadliest in the country since World War II -- face a panel of judges. In a matter of hours, nine suicide bombers committed a series of attacks across Paris that killed 130 people and wounded over 400 more. The simultaneous attacks outside the Stade de France during a soccer match, on a number of Parisian cafés and restaurants and inside the Bataclan concert hall during a packed performance were later claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL. At the Bataclan alone, 90 people were killed by terrorists with machine guns after being taken hostage. Six years after the terror attacks of Nov. 13, 2015, the landmark trial opens Wednesday and will last about nine months. With 1,800 plaintiffs and 330 lawyers, the trial will take place in front of a specially composed panel of professional judges, instead of a jury of peers. A historic event and a logistical challenge for the Paris courts, the trial will be extraordinary in more ways than one.