PARIS (AP) — The sister of Saudi Arabia's crown prince is being tried in absentia in Paris over the alleged 2016 beating of a workman at her family's apartment.

Princess Hassa bint Salman is accused in the trial that opened Tuesday of ordering her bodyguard to strike the man out of fear he was photographing her.

The princess has denied the allegation through her lawyer.

She left France after the alleged incident and French authorities issued a warrant for her arrest in December 2017.

She did not appear in the Paris court where a judicial official says she faces charges of theft, complicity in voluntary violence and complicity in sequestration.

Bint Salman is a sister of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.