PARIS, Feb 5 (Reuters) - A French court sentenced a German believed to have been an associate of Osama bin Laden to 18 years in jail on Thursday for his part in a suicide bomb attack on a synagogue in Tunisia that killed 21 people in 2002.

Christian Ganczarski, a German convert to Islam who spent time in Afghanistan and is believed to have been an adviser to Osama bin Laden, was arrested in France in 2003.

The court also sentenced a second man, Walid Nouar, the brother of the suicide bomber, to 12 years in prison for his part in the attack.

Both men had pleaded not guilty and are expected to appeal the verdict.

"I am not responsible for what my brother did. I am not a cruel man," Nouer told the court, apologising to families of the victims for his brother's act.

Two French, 14 Germans and five Tunisians were killed and 30 other people were wounded when a bomber drove a tanker truck filled with cooking gas to the synagogue and blew it up as they were entering the building, which was virtually destroyed.

(Reporting by Thierry Leveque; Writing by James Mackenzie; editing by Michael Roddy)

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