Trial opens of eight accused of assisting in French teacher’s brutal murder

PariscTypeface:> The Paris trial of eight people who allegedly helped the perpetrator in the brutal murder and beheading of history teacher Samuel Paty began on Monday, four years after a crime which shocked France.

The murder, classified as an Islamist-motivated terrorist act, also sparked international outrage. In October 2020, the suspect, an 18-year-old with Russian-Chechen origins, killed and beheaded the 47-year-old Paty in a Paris suburb.

French security forces subsequently shot and killed the assailant.

Seven men and one woman are charged, including two friends of the perpetrator who, according to the indictment, were privy to his plans. (DPA)