Six teenagers were convicted of helping the man who beheaded French schoolteacher Samuel Paty three years ago after he showed caricatures of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad in class as part of a lesson on free speech.
The attacker, an 18-year-old Russian national of Chechen origin identified by authorities as Abdoullakh Anzorov, was shot dead by police minutes after the attack.
Following a two-week trial behind closed doors, five boys on Friday were convicted on charges of criminal conspiracy for monitoring the high school’s surroundings and assisting Anzorov in identifying Paty. Another defendant, a girl who was 13 years old at the time, was convicted of slander.
The sentences ranged from a 14-month suspended jail term to six months’ incarceration.
Eight adults will also face trial over Paty’s death in a separate court next year. Two of them have been charged with complicity in terrorist murder, while six others face charges of terrorist conspiracy.