Six Students Convicted in Trial Linked to Beheading of French Teacher
Six teenagers were convicted of helping the man who beheaded French schoolteacher Samuel Paty three years ago after he showed caricatures of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad in class as part of a lesson on free speech.
The attacker, an 18-year-old Russian national of Chechen origin identified by authorities as Abdoullakh Anzorov, was shot dead by police minutes after the attack.
Following a two-week trial behind closed doors, five boys on Friday were convicted on charges of criminal conspiracy for monitoring the high school’s surroundings and assisting Anzorov in identifying Paty. Another defendant, a girl who was 13 years old at the time, was convicted of slander.
The sentences ranged from a 14-month suspended jail term to six months’ incarceration.
Eight adults will also face trial over Paty’s death in a separate court next year. Two of them have been charged with complicity in terrorist murder, while six others face charges of terrorist conspiracy.
