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A court for young offenders in France has found six teenagers guilty of participating in the decapitation of a teacher by an Islamic extremist, which caused shock throughout the nation.
In 2020, educator Samuel Paty lost his life outside his school for displaying cartoons of the Islamic prophet during a discussion on freedom of speech.
The perpetrator, a youth from Chechnya who had become radicalized, was fatally shot by law enforcement.
The court convicted five of the defendants, aged 14 and 15 at the time, for scouting the teacher and identifying him to the assailant.
They were accused of planning to commit aggravated violence as part of a criminal conspiracy.
A 13-year-old defendant was charged with making a false statement about a classroom discussion, which further fueled online hostility towards the teacher.
The court gave brief or suspended prison sentences to all individuals. The teenagers, who were students at Mr Paty’s school, stated that they were unaware of the teacher’s death.
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Source: independent.co.uk