Prosecutor: France charges four men with helping Paris gunman

France has formally charged four suspects with assisting one of the Islamist gunmen who carried out the Paris attacks, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

Four men aged between 22 and 28 were charged and remanded in custody on Tuesday night, three of whom are suspected of having bought “equipment” for Amedy Coulibaly, who gunned down a policewoman and killed four people in a hostage drama at a Jewish supermarket two weeks ago.

Coulibaly claimed to have acted in concert with Cherif and Said Kouachi, brothers who began the three days of Paris attacks on January 7 when they burst into the offices of the Charlie Hebdo satirical weekly, mowing down 12 people in revenge for cartoons lampooning the Prophet Mohammed.

The Paris attacks deeply shocked the country, prompting several million to pour onto the streets for rallies, and sparked an outpouring of international support for France.