Sat 09 December 2023:
In a case that shocked France, six youths were found guilty in relation to the events that resulted in their teacher Samuel Paty’s death in 2020.
One girl, who was 13 years old at the time, was found guilty of making false accusations. Five more people, who were in age from 14 to 15, were convicted of criminal conspiracy with the intent of causing violence.
In the Paris suburb of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, Paty, a 47-year-old history teacher, was stabbed and later beheaded by Abdoullakh Anzorov, an 18-year-old radical who had been granted refuge after arriving in France at the age of six with his Chechen parents.
Anzorov, who was later shot dead at the scene by police, killed Paty after messages spread on social media that the teacher had shown his class cartoons of the prophet Muhammad from the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
Paty had used the magazine as part of an ethics class to discuss free speech laws in France. Weeks before the class, Charlie Hebdo had republished the cartoons.
The girl, who had been seen as central to the events, was found guilty of making false accusations and slanderous comments. She was handed an 18-month suspended prison sentence.
She had wrongly said that Paty had asked Muslim students to identify themselves and leave the classroom before he showed the cartoons. She later told investigators she was not in the classroom that day. Paty had not asked children to leave but said they could turn away if they felt they would be offended by the cartoons shown.
Five were found guilty of having helped point out Paty to Anzorov when he asked who the teacher was. They said they never thought it would lead to his murder. Four were given suspended sentences.
One of them, who had initially shown Anzorov who Paty was, was sentenced to six months in prison, which should be possible to serve under electronic surveillance.
Those handed suspended sentences were required to stay in school or jobs during the duration of their suspended terms with regular medical checkups. They left the courtroom without speaking.
The teenagers were tried behind closed doors in juvenile court, without the media present.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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