Flowers laid in front of the school where Samuel Paty taught, October 17, 2020 (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)
On Monday, the trial began in Paris of six former students of the school where Samuel Paty taught, a professor who was killed in a terrorist attack on October 16, 2020, after he was accused of sending his students a caricature of Mohammed, the prophet Islam, to have shown. Five of the students, who were 14 and 15 years old in 2020, are accused of conspiracy to prepare serious acts of violence because they provided Paty’s murderer with information about the professor’s identity and whereabouts for a fee. The sixth student, then 13, is accused of defamation for falsely claiming that the teacher made the Muslim students leave the classroom to show the rest of the students some pictures of a naked Mohammed during a lesson about freedom expression. In reality, the student confessed that she was not present in the classroom that day.
According to prosecutors, the six minors, who face up to two and a half years in prison, played a “significant” role in Paty’s murder. The student’s false statements actually sparked an online protest campaign against the professor, who was accused of discriminating against Muslim students and disrespecting Muhammad, fueled primarily by the student’s father and a radical Muslim preacher. The numerous posts on social networks accusing Paty attracted the attention of the perpetrator of the attack, Russian refugee of Chechen origin Abdoullakh Anzorov, who said shortly after the murder that he was happy to have “avenged the prophet.” The attacker was killed by police who responded to the scene.
The trial, which is taking place behind closed doors in a juvenile court, is the first in the matter. A trial is expected to begin at the end of 2024 against eight adults, including the father of the student accused of defamation, who are accused of inciting a hate campaign against the professor.
– Also read: The lie behind Samuel Paty’s murder
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