Trial starts in Paris over 2020 beheading of history teacher

By Nur Asena Erturk

A trial started in Paris on Monday over the 2020 beheading of a teacher, according to media reports.

Eight people appeared in court on terrorism charges over the murder of Samuel Paty, a 47-year-old history and geography teacher in the Parisian suburb of Conflans-Saint-Honorine, said French broadcaster France Bleu.

Paty was decapitated in October 2020 by Abdoullakh Anzorov, an 18-year-old man of Chechen origin who was shot dead by police.

The teacher was targeted for showing controversial cartoons depicting the Muslim Prophet Muhammad during one of his classes.

Two associates of Anzorov, Naim Boudaoud (22) and Azim Epsirkhanov (23) are accused of complicity in the "terrorist assassination," France Bleu added.

The six other defendants are charged with taking part in a terrorist and criminal association.

Investigations showed that Anzorov was not one of Paty’s students, and discovered his name on social media. He lived some 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the school Paty taught at.

The trial is set to conclude in late December.