A trial of unprecedented scale starts under high security on Wednesday to judge 20 men suspected of involvement in a jihadist rampage across Paris on November 13, 2015, the deadliest attack in peacetime France.
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Some 130 people were killed and hundreds wounded when gunmen with suicide vests targeted six bars and restaurants, the Bataclan concert hall and a sports stadium, leaving deep scars on the nation's psyche.
With police on high alert, streets will be cut off to cars and pedestrians around the Palais de Justice courthouse on an island in central Paris, with the surrounding banks of the Seine also off-limits.
Those authorized to attend the trial will have to go through multiple checkpoints before being allowed in a specially-built courtroom and other rooms where the hearings will be broadcast.
The trial will last nine months, with about 1,800 plaintiffs and more than 300 lawyers taking part in what Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti has described as an unprecedented judicial marathon. The verdict is expected late May.
Most of the accused, including Salah Abdeslam, the 31-year old French-Moroccan who is believed to be the only surviving member of the group suspected of carrying out the attacks, face life imprisonment if convicted.
