The trial of eight individuals charged with encouraging the killing of French history teacher Samuel Paty who was beheaded outside his school four years ago, began in Paris on Monday.
The assailant, Abdoullakh Anzorov, an 18 year-old of Chechen dissent, stabbed Paty multiple times before beheading him in front of the school and was shot dead by police soon after the attack.
According to Reuters, Paty was a well-respected secondary-school teacher in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine near Paris who showed caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed in a free speech lesson he had taught several times before. In response, a 13 year old female student claimed Paty had instructed Muslim students to leave the classroom so he could display an offensive image. However, the accusations have proven to be false.
The father of the student, Brahim Chnina, had previously posted a series of accusatory videos on social media, falsely claiming Paty had punished his daughter over objections to the lesson, publicly identifying Paty and his school. Prosecutors allege that Chnina worked with Abdelhakim Sefrioui, the founder of a hardline Islamist group, to incite hostility toward Paty. Thibault de Montbrial, a lawyer for Paty’s sister, argued that these public accusations and videos were directly linked to the tragedy, stating, “They put a target on the teacher’s back.”
Both Chnina and Sefrioui face charges of associating with a terrorist organization. Sefrioui’s lawyer, Ouadie Elhamamouchi, argued there is no evidence of any contact between Sefrioui and Paty’s killer.
Elhamamouchi told Reuters that Sefrioui would show the court “that he has absolutely no connection whatsoever with this heinous attack, which he has condemned from day one”.
Six others are also on trial for related charges, including aiding Paty’s killer with weapons and planning the ambush.
Last year, a court found Chnina’s daughter and five other adolescents guilty of charges related to taking part in a pre-meditated criminal conspiracy and helping to prepare an ambush. French media reported that Chnina’s daughter was not in Paty’s class during the lesson in question and had made false accusations under questioning by her parents regarding a school suspension.
The trial is scheduled to run through December.
