Carlos the Jackal

The 62-year-old Venezuelan, born Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, went before a special Paris court to answer charges that he masterminded four deadly attacks in France in the 1980s. He is already serving a life sentence for three murders against French citizens committed in 1975.

Ramirez is charged with instigating four attacks between 1982 and 1983, which killed 11 people and injured more than 140 others in France. If convicted, the man known as Carlos the Jackal could face a second life sentence. He has denied any involvement in the attacks.

Appearing before Judge Olivier Leurent, Ramirez said he was a "professional revolutionary." His lawyers denounced the trial as unfair.

Six weeks of hearings are scheduled, during which Ramirez will be returned under tight guard to his cell at the French capital's high-security La Santé prison. Some 20 witnesses are expected to testify, including family members, terrorism experts and former accomplices.

'Publicity-hungry extremist'

On Sunday, Ramirez boasted in an interview with a Venezuelan newspaper that he had conducted more than 100 attacks that left between 1,500 and 2,000 people dead, but "not more than 200 civilian victims."

His biographer, Bernard Violet, has described the death toll claim as "surreal" and accused Ramirez of being "a publicity-hungry extremist," who has "exaggerated his own crimes to stir interest in his trial."

Ramirez earned most of his notoriety for masterminding the 1975 assault on an OPEC meeting in Vienna, where he and five others took about 70 people hostage, including 11 oil ministers. Three people, including an Austrian policeman, were killed during the attack.

The group demanded to be flown to Algeria where most of the hostages were released. The guerillas gave themselves up to the authorities there and were set free a few days later.

Ramirez was finally arrested in Sudan in 1994 and transferred to France, where he has been held ever since.

Author: Gregg Benzow (AFP, AP, Reuters)
Editor: Andreas Illmer