'Charlie Hebdo' to republish controversial Prophet Mohammed cartoons to mark start of trial

This file photo taken on January 7, 2015 shows a man holding a placard reading "I am Charlie" on the Old Harbor in Marseille, southern France, following an attack by unknown gunmen on the offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. Credit: AFP Photo

French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, the target of a massacre by Islamist gunmen in January 2015, said Tuesday that it was republishing hugely controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed to mark the start of the trial this week of alleged accomplices in the attack.

"We will never lie down. We will never give up," wrote its director Laurent "Riss" Sourisseau in an editorial to go with the republication of the cartoons in its latest edition.

Twelve people, including some of France's most celebrated cartoonists, were killed on January 7, 2015, when brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi went on a gun rampage at the paper's offices.