Ali Ouattara is facing a possible three-year jail term if he is found guilty of attempting to get the little boy into Europe illegally, and endangering his life.

But Mr Ouattara told news agency AFP he was not worried.

"I'm going to this trial with a lot of confidence because I'm not a human trafficker," the 45-year-old said.

The boy was found inside the case after it was put through an X-ray machine at the border between Morocco and Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in North Africa.

It was being pulled by a 19-year-old woman in May 2015.

His father, a former philosophy and French teacher in Ivory Coast, had paid 5,000 euros ($6,200; £4,400) to smugglers to get his son into Spain, where the family had been living.

But he was not told he would be smuggled in a suitcase.

Mr Ouattara's attempts to be reunited with his son legally had failed, he said.

The trial begins in Ceuta today. Mr Ouattara's son, who has been living in France with his mother and sister, is expected to return.