Eight people will stand trial in connection with 2020 beheading of French schoolteacher Samuel Paty

The trial of eight individuals, seven men and one woman, has commenced in France for their alleged roles in the murder of history teacher Samuel Paty in 2020. Paty, 47, was stabbed and beheaded outside his school in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine near Paris by an 18-year-old assailant of Chechen origin. Prosecutors claim that Brahim Chnina, a Franco-Moroccan who founded a hardline Islamist organization, used social media to incite violence against Paty over his civics class. This claim is supported by the fact that most defendants in the trial are accused of driving a campaign against Paty, which led to his murder. The trial is set to address the issue of joint responsibility for such an offense and is expected to last until December.