Trial begins over beheading of French teacher

Eight people have gone on trial in Paris for terrorism charges, related to the beheading of teacher Samuel Patty in 2020.

The teacher was killed by an Islamic extremist after showing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed to his class. The class where the images were shown was a Moral and Civic Education lesson mandated by the National Education Ministry on freedom of expression.

Patty was killed in October 2020, by 18-year-old Abdoullakh Anzorov, a Russian of Chechen origin, who was subsequently killed by police.

Those currently facing trial include friends of the attacker, who are alleged to have helped him purchase weapons for the attack and others who are accused of spreading false information online about the teacher and his class.

One of those involved in the trial is a muslim father, whose daughter claimed she had been excluded from the class where the images had been shown. The father sent messages to contacts saying that the teacher needed to be fired and sharing the address of the school.

The man's child had actually lied to him and had not attended the class. The father will be tried for alleged association with a terrorist enterprise. The child has already been given an 18-month suspended sentence in juvenile court.

Four other students at the school were found guilty of involvement and given suspended sentences. Another was given a 6-month term with an electronic bracelet after pointing out the teacher to the attacker for money.