Grenoble - Swiss conductor Michel Tabachnik went on trial yesterday for conspiracy to murder stemming from his involvement in the Order of the Solar Temple doomsday sect, thought to be responsible for 74 deaths.
The trial in Grenoble, in the French Alps, will mainly focus on the deaths of 16 cult members, including three children, whose charred bodies were found, laid out in a star pattern, in December 1995 in a remote French Alpine forest.
"I have come before my judges because I have done absolutely nothing wrong," said Mr Tabachnik, the only defendant in the first trial aimed at the cult.
The French judge who investigated the deaths believes two cult members drugged and shot dead the 14 others before setting themselves and the bodies on fire in a forest clearing known as the Well of Hell.