French gunman's brother charged

PARIS -- A Frenchman suspected of helping his brother plot attacks against Jewish schoolchildren and paratroopers was handed preliminary murder and terrorism charges Sunday.

Abdelkader Merah denied any role in the attacks. Investigators looking into France's worst terror attacks in years believe Merah helped his brother Mohamed prepare the killings, and are investigating whether they were linked to an international network of extremists or worked on their own.

Abdelkader Merah's lawyer said he feels like "a scapegoat."

"No one knew anything" about what Mohamed was plotting, lawyer Anne-Sophie Laguens told reporters in Paris. She dismissed reports that Abdelkader had praised his brother's attacks. "He was never proud of those actions."

Mohamed Merah, 23, claimed responsibility for killing three Jewish schoolchildren, a rabbi and three paratroopers earlier this month. After a 32-hour standoff with police, he died Thursday in a hail of gunfire as he jumped out a window of his apartment in the southern city of Toulouse.

Since then, attention has focused on his older brother, Abdelkader Merah, who was handed preliminary charges Sunday of complicity to murder and theft, and involvement in a terrorist enterprise, prosecutors said.

Authorities suspect Abdelkader Merah had a role in acquiring his younger brother's arsenal and financing his trips to Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Middle East.

Mohamed Merah had claimed allegiance to al-Qaida.