Six teenagers are on trial in Paris for their alleged involvement in the 2020 beheading of teacher Samuel Paty, marking the first of two trials in a case that shocked France.
The suspects arrived at the closed-doors juvenile court, concealing their faces. Paty, a 47-year-old history and geography teacher, was stabbed and beheaded near his secondary school in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, a Paris suburb. The assailant, 18-year-old Chechen refugee Abdoullakh Anzorov, was shot dead at the scene by the police.
The attack occurred after messages circulated on social media claiming that Paty had shown cartoons of Prophet Mohammed from the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo to his class. Paty used the cartoons in an ethics class to discuss free speech laws in France, where blasphemy is legal.
The killing took place weeks after Charlie Hebdo republished the cartoons, and it echoed the 2015 attack on the magazine’s office by Islamic gunmen, resulting in 12 deaths.
Five of the teenagers, aged 14 or 15 at the time of the murder, face charges of criminal conspiracy with intent to cause violence. They are accused of identifying Paty to the killer in exchange for money.
Another teenager, aged 13 at the time, is accused of making false allegations about Paty asking Muslim students to leave the classroom before showing the cartoons.
A trial for eight adults implicated in the case is scheduled for late 2024. Paty’s family considers the trial of the teenagers crucial, given their role in the events leading to his assassination. The trial is expected to continue until December 8.
