(Deutsche Welle) The killing of French history teacher Samuel Paty on October 16, 2020, left the country in deep shock. And yet, some feel the first court case on the alleged role of six minors in the attack is failing to bring about a much-needed debate. A verdict is expected this Friday.
On a Friday afternoon in 2020, an 18-year-old Chechen adolescent stabbed and beheaded Paty in front of his school in Conflans-Saint-Honorine, a northwestern suburb of Paris.
The 47-year-old teacher had shown cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in a class on freedom of expression. The caricatures had previously been published by the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which was attacked in January 2015 by two Islamist terrorists. They killed 12 people in the newsroom and in the vicinity. Like Paty’s killer, they claimed to “avenge the prophet.”
