Image caption Abdelkader Merah was taken in for questioning on Wednesday 
 
 The brother of the man who killed seven people in south-west France in recent weeks has been charged over the murders, judicial sources say. 
 
 Abdelkader Merah, 29, is suspected of complicity in murder and theft, and involvement in terrorism. He will be kept in custody, prosecutors said. 
 
 Abdelkader Merah denies the accusations but says he was there when his brother stole a scooter used in the attacks. 
 
 He also denies being proud of his brother, who was killed on Thursday. 
 
 According to his lawyer, Abdelkader Merah "strongly condemns" his brother's actions, saying he is "not at all proud" of them. 
 
 "Otherwise, he just hopes he does not become the scapegoat for his brother's acts because this is in some ways what is happening," Anne-Sophie Laguens said. 
 
 Mohamed Merah died in a shoot-out with police following a 32-hour siege of his apartment in Toulouse. 
 
 During the stand-off, he had admitted shooting dead three soldiers in two separate incidents, and, last Monday, killing three children and a teacher at a Jewish school in the city. 
 
 Investigators are trying to establish if Merah, a 23-year-old French citizen of Algerian descent, acted alone. 
 
 His older brother - and a woman described variously as his wife or girlfriend - were detained by police on Wednesday, and taken for questioning at domestic intelligence agency (DCRI) headquarters in Paris. 
 
 The woman was released without charge earlier on Sunday. 
 
 Meanwhile, several thousand people marched in silence through Toulouse and the French capital, Paris, urging unity and tolerance of all religions and cultures following the shootings. 
 
 Image caption Demonstrators in Paris bore a giant French flag as they marched for unity and tolerance 
 
 'Radical Islamist' 
 
 Prosecutors said Abdelkader Merah was presented to a judge in Paris on charges of criminal conspiracy aimed at planning terrorist acts and of complicity in murders and gang robbery. 
 
 He was handed preliminary charges of complicity in murder and theft, and involvement in preparing a terrorist attack. 
 
 Correspondents say that under French law, preliminary charges are filed when there are strong reasons to suspect a crime was committed, but more time is needed to investigate. 
 
 "Police inquiries have produced grave and matching pointers that suggest his participation as accomplice in crimes relating to a terrorist enterprise is plausible," the Paris public prosecutor's office said in a statement earlier. 
 
 Police and prosecutors have previously reportedly said Abdelkader is a radical Islamist and that traces of what could be an explosive material were found in his car. 
 
 He was questioned several years ago about alleged links to a network sending Toulouse-area youths to Iraq, but no action was brought against him at the time, police sources say. 
 
 Mohamed Merah had described himself as an al-Qaeda member, and told police he had bought weapons for 20,000 euros (£16,700; $24,400) using money taken through break-ins and hold-ups. 
 
 He recorded the shootings on a video camera strapped to his body. 
 
 The brothers' mother, 55-year-old Zoulika Aziri, had also been taken in for questioning, but was released without charge on Friday. 
 
 Her lawyer said her world had been "turned upside down" by the events. "At no time could she have imagined that her son was the one who did it," Jean-Yves Gougnaud told reporters in Toulouse. ||||| French prosecutors have filed preliminary murder and terrorism charges against the brother of a gunman who killed Jewish schoolchildren and paratroopers in attacks that stunned the country. 
 
 An unidentified man with his head covered, believed to be Abdelkader Merah or his companion, sits between masked police officers as they head to the French police's anti-terrorist headquarters in Levallois-Perret,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Cars with their registration plates covered with tape, transfer passengers believed to be Abdelkader Merah and his companion to the French police's anti-terrorist headquarters in Levallois-Perret, outside... (Associated Press) 
 
 An official from the prosecutor's office says the preliminary charges were handed to Abdelkader Merah on Sunday. He is suspected of complicity to murders and thefts and involvement in a terrorist enterprise. 
 
 Preliminary charges under French law mean there is strong reason to suspect a crime was committed but allow magistrates more time to investigate. 
 
 Merah's younger brother Mohamed was shot dead by police after claiming responsibility for killing three Jewish schoolchildren, a rabbi and three paratroopers earlier this month. 
 
 THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below. 
 
 PARIS (AP) _ Signs mounted Sunday that the brother of a radical Islamist gunman who killed schoolchildren and paratroopers in southern France may have helped prepare the attacks. 
 
 The Paris prosecutor's office opened a judicial inquiry into whether older brother Abdelkader Merah was complicit in preparing terrorist acts. And a special anti-terrorist judge was expected to file preliminary charges against him later Sunday. 
 
 The moves suggest investigators have strong reason to believe that 23-year-old gunman Mohamed Merah was not acting alone when he planned his attacks, which left three Jewish schoolchildren, a rabbi and three paratroopers dead and stunned France. 
 
 Merah claimed responsibility for the killings during a standoff with police that ended when he died Thursday in a hail of gunfire as he jumped out a window. 
 
 Prosecutor Francois Molins said the inquiry is also looking at anyone else who could have been involved in planning the attacks earlier this month in the city of Toulouse and nearby Montauban. 
 
 Investigators are trying to determine what role 30-year-old Abdelkader Merah played in acquiring his younger brother's arsenal and financing his trips to Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Middle East. Mohamed Merah claimed allegiance to al-Qaida and told police he traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan for training. 
 
 Abdelkader is suspected of possible complicity to murder and theft and involvement in a terrorist enterprise, the prosecutor's statement said. Abdelkader was questioned several years ago about alleged links to a network sending Toulouse-area youths to Iraq, but no action was brought against him at the time. 
 
 The brother's girlfriend, Yamina Mesbah, was released early Sunday without charge. The Merah brothers' mother was released Friday night, also without charge. 
 
 The girlfriend denied any involvement in what happened and said she was shocked by the killings, her lawyer Guy Debuisson said, adding that Abdelkader Merah appeared to have led a double life. 
 
 "This woman was unaware of anything about her husband's accessory, complementary or secret life," the lawyer said. The couple married according to Muslim custom in 2006, but did not undergo the civil ceremony required in France for a marriage to be recognized. 
 
 Abdelkader Merah took five or six trips to Egypt, ostensibly to study Arabic literature, and his girlfriend joined him on two or three, the lawyer said. 
 
 During questioning by police, the lawyer said, Mesbah learned that Merah had had other motivations for his trip to Egypt and "a life that led him toward an extremely intense ... fundamentalism." 
 
 "The question to ask today is if Mohamed was the only one that was indoctrinated. Was it just him or are there others," Debuisson asked. 
 
 The first paratrooper killed, Imad Ibn Ziaten, was set to be buried Sunday in his hometown in Morocco. 
 
 His mother carried his portrait as she disembarked from a plane bearing his coffin that landed late Saturday night at the Moroccan capital, Rabat. The coffin was carried past an honor guard and loaded onto an ambulance to take it to the village of M'diq in the north. 
 
 French State Secretary for Defense Marc Laffineur accompanied the family to Morocco, saying he wanted to show that "France is in mourning." The other paratroopers were buried in France last week, and the Jewish children and rabbi were buried in Israel. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Masha Macpherson and Johanna Decorse in Toulouse and Andy Drake in Rabat, Morocco contributed to this report.
– Toulouse gunman Mohamed Merah may be dead, but French authorities are eying complicity charges for his brother, Abdelkader, reports Sky News. "Police inquiries have produced grave and matching pointers that suggest his (Abdelkader's) participation as accomplice in crimes relating to a terrorist enterprise is plausible," says a statement from the Paris prosecutor's office. The elder Merah, 29, has been in custody since Wednesday, and will be detained indefinitely as charges are weighed, notes the BBC. Abdelkader Merah's companion, variously described as his wife or girlfriend, had also been held since Wednesday, but was released earlier today.