The first of two trials in a case that shocked France began on Monday, with six adolescents on trial in Paris for their roles in the 2020 beheading of teacher Samuel Paty.
According to a judicial source who spoke to AFP, the suspects entered the juvenile court behind closed doors with their jackets pulled over their faces.
In the Paris district of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, the 47-year-old history and geography teacher was stabbed, then decapitated, close to his secondary school.
Police shot and killed his assailant, 18-year-old Abdoullakh Anzorov, a Chechen refugee, on the spot.
Following social media comments circulating claiming the instructor had showed Paty’s students cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed from the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, the young, radicalized Islamists killed Paty.
Paty had used the magazine as part of an ethics class to discuss the laws around free speech in France, where it is legal to blaspheme and cartoons that mock religious figures have a long history.
He was killed a few weeks after Charlie Hebdo republished the cartoons. In 2015, when the magazine first used the images, Islamic gunmen stormed its office, killing twelve people.
Last month, a young, radicalized Islamist killed another teacher, Dominique Bernard, in the northern French city of Arras. Bernard’s suspected killer, Mohammed Moguchkov, also came from the predominantly Muslim North Caucasus region of Russia.
‘Role of the minors’
Five of the young defendants, who were 14 or 15 years old when Paty was killed, will face charges of criminal conspiracy with the purpose of inciting violence.
They are charged with keeping an eye out for Paty and providing the killer with his identity in return for cash.
Allegations of falsity are made against a sixth adolescent, who was thirteen at the time, claiming that Paty had requested Muslim pupils to identify themselves and leave the classroom prior to showing the drawings.
In late 2024, eight adults who are also involved with the case will go on trial.
Lawyer Virginie Le Roy, who represents Paty’s parents and one of his sisters, said that Paty’s family views the youngsters’ trial as vital.
“The minors played a crucial role in the series of events that culminated in his murder,” the speaker stated.
The youngsters said on oath that they never dreamed “it would go as far as murder,” saying that at worst they anticipated Paty would be “flagged up on social media,” “humiliated,” or even “roughed up.”
They have the possibility of serving 2.5 years in jail as high school students today.
“It’s intricate,” stated Dylan Slama, an attorney for an accused party.
“He’ll always be connected to this for the remainder of his life.”
The trial is expected to continue through December 8.
