Entrance of the Jewish Museum in Brussels
Entrance of the Jewish Museum in BrusselsReuters

The Frenchman on trial for shooting dead four people at the Jewish museum of Belgium "is not the killer", his lawyers argued in court Tuesday.

"He did not squeeze the trigger," lawyer Henri Laquay said, as he began his defense of Mehdi Nemmouche, the alleged gunman in the May 24, 2014 shooting spree.

"Mehdi Nemmouche is not the killer," Laquay added.

Nemmouche, 33, faces a life sentence if convicted of the cold-blooded, anti-Semitic killings in Brussels, the Belgian capital.

Investigators say Nemmouche is the first jihadist veteran of the Syrian war to stage a terror attack in Europe.

His co-defendant Nacer Bendrer, a fellow Frenchman who allegedly supplied him with the weapons, also faces a life sentence.

Prosecutors detailed the charges against the pair during the first two days of the trial that opened on Thursday, paving the way for defense arguments on Tuesday.