Lone Suspect in 1980 Paris Synagogue Bombing Goes on Trial

A police officer walks at the scene after the bombing of the Copernic street synagogue, in Paris, that killed 4 people on Oct. 3, 1980. Remy de la Mauviniere/AP Photo

PARIS—A Lebanese-Canadian academic who is the lone suspect in a 1980 bombing outside a Paris synagogue went on trial in absentia Monday, nearly 43 years after four people were killed and 46 wounded in the unclaimed attack.

French authorities identified Hassan Diab as a suspect in 1999. They accuse him of planting the bomb on the evening of Oct. 3, 1980, outside the synagogue where 320 worshipers had gathered to mark the end of a Jewish holiday.