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Six teenagers were charged by a court in Paris on Friday for the attack on Samuel Paty, a history teacher whose killing by an Islamist in 2020 shook France to its core.
Five of the defendants, those who studied in elementary school at the school where Mr. Paty, was found guilty of aiding and abetting murder by identifying and finding the teacher, although there is no belief that they knew he intended to kill.
They were found guilty of participating in a criminal conspiracy to commit an aggravated assault. Four received suspended sentences of 14 to 20 months. The fifth was sentenced to two years in prison, with 18 months suspended for six months to be served under an electric bracelet.
Mr. Paty, 47, showed pictures of the Prophet Muhammad during a civic class to explain free speech, and was later beheaded for the act on October 16, 2020, near the school where he worked. in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, a town northwest of Paris.
The killer, Abdoullakh Anzorov, is an 18-year-old Russian of Chechen origin who knew about Mr. Paty after the teacher became the target of an online competition.
Pursued by Mr. Anzorov the school of Mr. Paty on the day of the murder and he asked for the help of five young people in exchange for about $320, telling them that he wanted to fight against Mr. Paty and forced him to apologize. Mr. Anzorov was shot and killed by police shortly after the attack.
The sixth defendant, a 13-year-old girl at the time of the murder, was found guilty of making false accusations against Mr. Patty. He received an 18-month prison sentence.
Officials have not publicly identified the defendants, who were tried behind closed doors by the Juvenile Criminal Court because they were not adults at the time of the attack. The defendants, five of whom are minors, walked in and out of the courtroom Friday wearing masks, hats or goggles to cover their faces.
The court ordered that all of them comply with their responsibilities for several years, including staying in school or finding work for the duration of their sentences, to undergo regular medical check-ups, and to cooperate with teachers. special. If the defendants do not follow those obligations or if they commit another crime they face being sent to prison.
Next year it is expected that another trial will be held for the eight adults charged in this case.
The killing of Mr. Paty happened after several terrorist attacks in 2015 and 2016 that killed hundreds of people. But his murder and the nature of the violence was devastating in a different way and continues to haunt the country.
Teachers in France, who play an important role in providing the values of the French Republic of freedom, equality, engagement and secularism, are seen as the first line of defense of a public school that fearing many who are threatened by Islamic practices.
Those fears have been heightened in recent months by a spate of small but deadly terrorist attacks.
In October, almost three years to the day since Mr. Paty, another teacher was killed at his school in the north of France in similar dangerous circumstances. The suspect in the case is a former student at the school, a 20-year-old Russian immigrant who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State before going on an attack in which he also injured others. three people.
And, last week, a mentally ill man with a history of radicalization killed a German tourist near the Eiffel Tower and wounded several others with a knife and a hammer. , an attack that made the country even more dangerous.
Virginie Le Roy, a lawyer for the family of Mr. Paty, who said the court’s sentence was too light, sent the “wrong signal” as France faces increasing threats.
“A man with his head cut off in the street is nothing,” he said. “The sentence does not match the bill”.
The public prosecutor accused five of those accused of helping Mr. Anzorov to identify and find Mr. Paty, including the policeman outside his school, by telling Mr. Anzorov looks like a teacher, pointing him out as he leaves the school.
The presiding judge said on Friday that the defendants knew when Mr. Anzorov among them is Mr. Paty is the target of a vicious cyber attack but she refuses to help him.
Defense attorneys argued that their clients, who were 14 to 15 years old at the time of the murder, did not know that Mr. Anzorov to kill Mr. Paty and was very sorry for their role in his death.
“This is not a case that will fade from his memory,” said Dylan Slama, a lawyer for one of the minors sentenced, about his client after the verdict. “It will stay with him for the rest of his life.”
Mr. Paty, who taught in the government, showed the students pictures published by the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo – itself the target of the massacre in 2015 – to demonstrate the right to free speech evil, free speech and freedom of conscience.
The sixth defendant, the girl, told her parents at this time that Mr. Paty was particular to the Muslim students in the room. school, and ask them to leave before showing the pictures. In fact, the girl did not attend that class and Mr. Paty Muslim students leave the classroom.
He was suspended from school for two days for unrelated reasons, but he told his parents that he was being punished for complaining to Mr. Paty about the photos – a “constant lie” he admitted in court, the court said.
The girl’s lie caused a terrible reaction. Her father published the girl’s complaint on social media. When Mr. Anzorov, who lived almost 60 miles away, about the dispute, then proceeded to kill Mr. Patty.
Francis Szpiner, a lawyer for the former partner of Mr. Paty, he said that he was “disappointed” by the punishments, which did not reach the two and a half years of imprisonment that the defendants could have faced.
“Although we are in court for children,” he said, “some of the people who were judged had a great responsibility.”