A French court has sentenced seven men and a woman to prison for their roles in a hate campaign that led to the October 2020 murder of schoolteacher Samuel Paty in a Paris suburb.
The attack took place following social media posts that falsely claiming Paty had shown his students obscene pictures of the Prophet Muhammad during a lesson on free speech.
Chechen-born radicalised Muslim Abdoullakh Anzorov murdered Samuel Paty, a history and geography teacher, at a secondary school in the Parisian suburb of Conflans-Saint-Honorine.
Over seven weeks, the court heard how a 13-year-old schoolgirl’s lie span out of control thanks to social media.
But the judge decided that the absence of foreknowledge was no defence, because what they did had the effect of incitement.
For their roles in a hate campaign that resulted in the October 2020 murder of schoolteacher Samuel Paty in a Paris suburb, a French court has sentenced seven men and one woman to prison.
The range of the sentences imposed is three to sixteen years.
The attack happened after social media posts made false claims that Paty had shown his students pornographic images of the Prophet Muhammad during a free speech lesson.
Abdoullakh Anzorov, a radicalized Muslim who was born in Chechnya, killed Samuel Paty, a history and geography teacher at a secondary school in the Conflans-Saint-Honorine suburb of Paris.
Police shot Anzorov dead at the scene just minutes after the 47-year-old was killed.
He was enraged by online rumors that Paty had told Muslims to leave a 13-year-old class a few days prior to showing the prophet Muhammad’s pictures.
In fact, Paty had been teaching a lesson on the right to free speech when he told students to look away if they were afraid of being offended before displaying one of the contentious pictures that were first published by Charlie Hebdo magazine.
People who gave him material or moral support were on trial in the absence of the murderer.
Over the course of seven weeks, the court heard how social media caused a 13-year-old schoolgirl’s lie to spiral out of control.
The schoolgirl’s father, Brahim Chnina, was one of those sentenced on Friday.
Abdelhakim Sefrioui, a radical Islamic activist who has since been found guilty, assisted Chnina in her online campaign against the teacher.
Four individuals with whom the murderer exchanged messages on a radical chatline were also convicted, along with two of his friends who were present when he purchased weapons.
The defence had maintained that the eight had no knowledge of Anzorov’s plans and that their words and deeds only turned illegal when he actually committed his crime.
However, because their actions had the effect of inciting, the judge ruled that the lack of foreknowledge was not a defense.
