A Tunisian man has gone on trial for stabbing three people to death in a church in the southern French city of Nice more as part of a "terrorist" plot.
Brahim Aouissaoui, 25, is accused of being behind the attack on 29 October 2020.
It was one of a number of deadly incidents in France blamed on Islamist radicals since 2015.
Aouissaoui is being tried at a special court in Paris and faces life in jail if convicted.
The defendant, speaking in Arabic through an interpreter, confirmed his identity as the trial opened.
When presiding judge Christophe Petiteau asked him the name of his lawyer, Aouissaoui, who insists he has no memory of the events in Nice, replied: "I don't know his name".
He was seriously injured by police who shot him after the attack and insists that he does not remember anything.
However, a medical examination did not reveal any brain damage and a psychiatric assessment concluded there was no impairment of Aouissaoui's judgement at the time of the events.
His telephone conversations in prison have also shown "that his alleged amnesia was at the very least very exaggerated", according to the prosecution.
His behaviour is a "fictitious amnesia" or even "deception", according to Philippe Soussi, lawyer of the husband of one of the victims and member of the French Association of Victims of Terrorism (AFVT).
He added that the defendant's "radicalisation is old and deep".
Aouissaoui's lawyer Martin Mechin said that "after more than four years of detention in total isolation" his mental health will be in question at the trial and his capacity to be able to defend himself as any accused has the right to do.
'Proven radicalisation' of Aouissaoui - prosecution
Aouissaoui had arrived in Europe from Tunisia the month before the attack, first crossing the Mediterranean Sea to Italy and then into France overland.
On the morning of 29 October 2020, he entered the Basilica of Notre-Dame in the heart of Nice, carrying a copy of the Koran, three knives and two mobile phones, according to anti-terrorism prosecutors.
They have argued that he already intended to "commit an attack in France" before leaving Tunisia, pointing to a "proven radicalisation and association with individuals involved in terrorist cases" in that country.
The accused is to be cross-examined on 24 February and the trial due to last until 26 February.
The Nice killings came two weeks after history teacher Samuel Paty was killed by an 18-year-old Chechen refugee for having shown his pupils cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in a lesson on freedom of speech.
French intelligence had nothing on file relating to Aouissaoui prior to the attack.
