Eight on trial in France over murder of teacher who showed Prophet caricature

The father of a French pupil whose account of the use of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed in a class on free speech indirectly led to the teacher’s brutal murder went on trial on Monday accused of association with a terrorist network.

Samuel Paty, 47, was stabbed repeatedly in 2020 outside his school in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine near Paris by an 18-year-old assailant of Chechen origin, then decapitated, days after showing his pupils the caricatures.

Many Muslims consider depictions of prophets to be blasphemous.

Prosecutors allege Brahim Chnina used social media to turn a dispute over the civics class into a campaign against Paty, helping make videos designed to incite hatred towards the middle-school teacher and distributing them on social networks.

They accuse Chnina of collaborating with Abdelhakim Sefrioui, a Franco-Moroccan who founded a hardline Islamist organization, the Cheikh Yassine Collective, subsequently banned in France.

Both men are charged with association with a terrorist organization. Chnina’s lawyer declined to comment ahead of the start of the trial.

Sefrioui’s lawyer, Ouadie Elhamamouchi, has said there is no proof of contact between Sefrioui and the Chechen killer, whom police shot dead.

Elhamamouchi told Reuters that Sefrioui would show the court “that he has absolutely no connection whatsoever with this heinous attack, which he has condemned from day one.”

Among the six others on trial in Paris alongside Chnina and Sefrioui are two associates of Paty’s killer, Abdullakh Anzorov. Prosecutors allege they knew of Anzorov’s plans to slay Paty and helped him buy weapons.

Both are charged with complicity in a terrorist killing, and French media say they have both denied wrongdoing.

Last year, a court found Chnina’s daughter and five other adolescents guilty of charges related to taking part in a premeditated criminal conspiracy and helping to prepare an ambush.

Chnina’s daughter was not in Paty’s class when the caricatures were shown and the court found her guilty of making false accusations and slanderous comments.

The latest trial is due to run until December.