The Jackal goes on trial

PARIS, DEC 12: "Carlos the jackal," once the world’s most hunted man, went on trial for murder today at the Paris law courts. Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, alias Carlos, is being tried for the 1975 killing of two French secret policemen and a Lebanese informer. The hearing began at 1800 hrs IST. Carlos stepped into the dock proclaiming "My career is professional revolutionary."

The red-robed assize court president and his two assistants took their places and the grey-haired Carlos appeared, smiling and looking relaxed. Asked his address, he said "The world is my domain."

Carlos wore gold-rimmed glasses and beige pants, a knitted beige shirt and jacket with a little silk scarf around his neck. Free of handcuffs, three policemen escoted him. He arrived at the law courts in a convoy of three cars filled with armed police and an armoured prison van accompanied by a motorcycle escort.

His trial will last a week, but it is the first of a series of trials of the top international terrorist of the 1970s and 80s.