Six teenagers will go on trial behind closed doors on Monday, after they were accused of involvement in the beheading of French history teacher Samuel Paty by a suspected Islamist in 2020.
The teacher had shown his pupils cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad in a class on freedom of expression, angering a number of Muslim parents who allegedly believed the depiction of the Prophet was blasphemous.
One of the minors, a 15-year-old girl who allegedly told her parents that Paty had shown caricatures of the prophet in her class, will be charged with false accusation after it was established that she was not in the class when it happened.
Paty, was killed outside his school in a Paris suburb by an 18-year-old assailant, born in Russia of Chechen origin, who was shot dead by police soon after the attack.
The five other minors to be prosecuted, aged between 14 and 15 at the time of the attack, will be charged with premeditated criminal conspiracy, or ambush.
All six minors were referred to the children’s court and could face 2 to 5 years in prison as the hearings, due to last until December 8, will be held behind closed doors.
