Teenage pupils ‘who identified Samuel Paty to Islamist who killed and DECAPITATED the French teacher’ go on trial over the murder
- 47-year-old history and geography teacher was killed in Paris in 2020
- His killer 18-year-old refugee Abdoullakh Anzorov was shot dead at the scene
Six teenagers appeared in court in Paris today over their part in the beheading and killing of teacher Samuel Paty in 2020.
The 47-year-old history and geography teacher was stabbed and then beheaded by 18-year-old Chechen refugee and Islamist extremist Abdoullakh Anzorov near his secondary school in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine on October 16, 2020.
He was murdered after messages spread on social media that the teacher had shown his class cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed from the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
The defendants, who all arrived at the courthouse today covering their faces with hoods or surgical masks and sunglasses to disguise their identities, have been accused of slander and identifying Paty to the killer in exchange for money.
The hearing will be held behind closed doors given the young ages of the defendants at the time of the events, all between 13 and 15 years old, meaning only those directly affected by the case can attend the hearing.
A photograph of history and geography teacher Samuel Paty as seen at his tribute ceremony in Eragny-sur-Oise, northwestern Paris
Crowds gathered at Place de la Sorbonne to watch the National Tribute to the murdered school teacher Samuel Paty lead by French president Emmanuel Macron on October 21, 2020 in Paris
READ MORE: France will try 14 people including six CHILDREN over murder of teacher Samuel Paty three years after he was beheaded by Islamic extremist
The press does not have access to the courtroom, guarded by police officers, and is banned from reporting what is said, even by quoting lawyers.
Members of Paty’s family were admitted to the courtroom, as were around ten of his teacher colleagues who said they hoped to join the plaintiffs in the case.
Paty had used the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo as part of an ethics class to discuss free speech laws in France, where blasphemy is legal and cartoons mocking religious figures have a long history.
His killing took place just weeks after Charlie Hebdo republished the cartoons. When the magazine first used the images in 2015, Islamist gunmen stormed its office, killing 12 people.
Last month another teacher, Dominique Bernard, was killed in Arras in northern France by a young radicalised Islamist.
Like Anzorov, Bernard’s suspected killer Mohammed Moguchkov also hailed from Russia’s mainly Muslim North Caucasus region.
The terrorist who beheaded Paty near Paris, 18-year-old Abdullakh Anzorov
A teenager was jailed in October for two years for her role in the horrific beheading of French teacher Samuel Paty (pictured)
Flowers next to a placard reading ‘I am a teacher’ in tribute to Samuel Paty taken in October 2020
Five of the adolescents on trial, who were 14 or 15 at the time of Paty’s murder, are being tried for criminal conspiracy with intent to cause violence.
They are accused of having been on the lookout for Paty and identifying him to the killer in exchange for money.
A sixth teenager, a girl 13 at the time, is accused of false allegations for wrongly saying that Paty had asked Muslim students to identify themselves and leave the classroom before he showed the cartoons, when in fact she had not even been in the class.
She arrived in the courtroom with her head completely hidden in the hood of her black down jacket.
Louis Cailliez, a lawyer for the Paty family, said he expected the defence team to explain away the defendants’ actions as ‘errors of youth’.
But, he said, the trial needed to elucidate ‘the true reasons why these pupils committed the unforgivable’.
‘He is eaten up with remorse,’ said one of the defendants’ lawyers, Antoine Ory, about his client. ‘He is terrified, very worried about coming face to face with Samuel Paty’s family.’
French President Emmanuel Macron leaves after paying his respects by the coffin Paty in the courtyard of the Sorbonne university during a national memorial event
A photograph taken on October 16, 2023 shows a commemorative plaque for Paty near the Bois d’Aulne school in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine
READ MORE: Muslim girl is jailed for two years for her role in the murder of French teacher Samuel Paty who was beheaded for showing class a cartoon of the Prophet
A trial of eight adults also implicated in the case is scheduled for late 2024.
Paty’s family see the trial of the teenagers as crucial, according to Virginie Le Roy, a lawyer representing his parents and one of his sisters.
‘The role of the minors was fundamental in the sequence of events that led to his assassination,’ she said.
During questioning, the teenagers swore that at most they thought Paty would be ‘flagged up on social media’, ‘humiliated’ or maybe ‘roughed up’ but they never imagined ‘it would go as far as murder’.
They now are high school pupils and risk two-and-a-half years in prison if convicted.
‘It is complicated,’ said Dylan Slama, the lawyer for one of the accused.
‘He will be associated with this for the rest of his life.’
One of the teachers present, who like his colleagues declined to be named, said he was at the trial ‘because we need to understand’.
Another teacher said ‘Samuel Paty is part of our daily lives, we don’t teach in the same way that we used to’.
A third said ‘we have waited three years to hear what our students have to say’.
This is the first of two trials and is scheduled to last until December 8.
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