The children’s court has rendered its decision in the trial of the assassination of Samuel Paty. After two weeks of appearances behind closed doors, suspended prison sentences and flexible prison sentences were handed down against the six former college students tried for their involvement in the jihadist assassination of the professor in 2020.
Five of the defendants, aged 14 and 15 at the time, appeared on trial for conspiracy to commit aggravated violence. They are accused of having monitored the surroundings of the college and designated Samuel Paty as the attacker, for remuneration.
A sixth teenager, aged 13 at the time of the events, appeared in court for slanderous denunciation. This schoolgirl had wrongly claimed that Samuel Paty had asked the Muslim students in the class to report and leave the class before showing the caricatures. She hadn’t actually attended the class.
Strict closed session
The trial, which opened on November 27, ended Friday morning with the defendants’ final words. Then the court withdrew to deliberate and render its decision in public hearing. The defendants, now high school students, faced two and a half years of imprisonment.
The trial was held strictly behind closed doors due to their young age at the time of the events. The press was even forbidden to report, via the words of the lawyers, what was said during the debates or what the anti-terrorism prosecution requested. In this case, a second trial is planned for the end of 2024 for eight adults, including the father of the schoolgirl who fueled a violent campaign on social networks against the teacher.