FILE - Hundreds of people gather on Republique square during a demonstration Sunday Oct. 18, 2020 in Paris in support of freedom of speech and to pay tribute to a French history teacher who was beheaded near Paris after discussing caricatures of Islam's Prophet Muhammad with his class. A French juvenile court is handing down a verdict Friday Dec.8, 2023 for six teenagers accused of involvement in the killing of teacher Samuel Paty, beheaded by an Islamic extremist after he showed caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad to his class for a debate on freedom of expression. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)
PARIS (AP) – A French juvenile court on Friday convicted six teenagers for their roles in the beheading of a teacher by an Islamic extremist that shocked the country.
Teacher Samuel Paty was killed outside his school in 2020 after showing his class cartoons of the prophet of Islam during a debate on free expression. The attacker, a young Chechen who had radicalized, was killed by police.
The court found five of the defendants, 14 and 15 at the time of the attack, guilty of staking out the teacher and identifying him for the attacker.
Another defendant, 13 at the time, was accused of lying about the classroom debate in a comment that aggravated online anger against the teacher.
All were handed brief or suspended prison terms. The teenagers testified that they didn’t know the teacher would be killed.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
PARIS (AP) – A French juvenile court is handing down a verdict Friday for six teenagers accused of involvement in the killing of teacher Samuel Paty, who was beheaded by an Islamic extremist after he showed caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad to his class for a debate on freedom of expression.
Paty, a history and geography teacher, was killed on Oct. 16, 2020, near his school in a Paris suburb by an 18-year-old of Chechen origin who had become radicalized. The attacker, Abdoullakh Anzorov, was then shot dead by police.
Paty’s name was disclosed on social media after a class debate on free expression during which he showed prophet caricatures published by the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. The publication had triggered a deadly extremist massacre in the Charlie Hebdo newsroom in 2015.
All those on trial were students at Paty’s school. If convicted, they face up to two-and-a-half years in prison.
Five of the defendants, who were 14 or 15 at the time of the attack, are accused of staking Paty out until he left school that day and identifying him for the attacker in exchange for promises of 300-350 euros ($350-400). Investigators found that the attacker wanted to target Paty but didn’t have the means to identify him.
The five are facing charges of criminal conspiracy with the aim of preparing aggravated violence.
The sixth defendant, who was 13 at the time, is accused of wrongly claiming that Paty had asked Muslim students to raise their hands and leave the classroom before he showed the class the prophet cartoons. She was not in the classroom that day, and later told investigators she had lied. She is facing a charge of making false allegations.
Her father shared the lie in an online video that called for mobilization against the teacher. He and a radical Islamic activist who helped disseminate virulent messages against Paty are among eight adults who will face a separate trial for adults suspected of involvement in the killing, expected late next year.
In sometimes tearful testimony, the teenagers on trial said they had no idea the teacher would be killed, according to French media reports.
The trial has been held behind closed doors, and the media are not allowed to disclose the defendants’ identities according to French law regarding minors.
The proceedings come weeks after a teacher was fatally stabbed and three other people injured in northern France in October in a school attack by a former student suspected of Islamic radicalization. That killing occurred in a context of global tensions over the Israel-Hamas war and led French authorities to deploy 7,000 additional soldiers across the country to bolster security and vigilance.
