PARIS – The father of a French student whose account of the use of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in a class on freedom of expression indirectly led to the teacher’s brutal murder was tried Monday on charges of association with a terrorist network.

Samuel Paty, 47, was stabbed repeatedly in 2020 in front of his school in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, near Paris, by an 18-year-old attacker of Chechen origin, and then beheaded, days after showing the cartoons to his students. .

Many Muslims consider depictions of prophets to be blasphemous.

Prosecutors allege that Brahim Chnina used social media to turn a dispute over civics class into a campaign against Paty, helping to create videos designed to incite hatred toward the high school teacher and distributing them on social media.

Chnina is accused of collaborating with Abdelhakim Sefrioui, a French-Moroccan who founded a hardline Islamist organization, the Cheikh Yassine Collective, later banned in France.

Both men are charged with association with a terrorist organization. Chnina’s lawyer declined to comment before the start of the trial.

Sefrioui’s lawyer, Ouadie Elhamamouchi, has said there is no evidence of contact between Sefrioui and the Chechen killer, who was shot dead by police.

Elhamamouchi told Reuters that Sefrioui would demonstrate to the court “that he has absolutely no connection to this heinous attack, which he has condemned from day one.”

Among the other six prosecuted in Paris alongside Chnina and Sefrioui are two associates of Paty’s killer, Abdullakh Anzorov. Prosecutors allege they knew of Anzorov’s plans to kill Paty and helped him buy weapons.

Both are accused of complicity in a terrorist murder and French media say they have both denied any wrongdoing.

Last year, a court found Chnina’s daughter and five other teenagers guilty of charges related to participating in a premeditated criminal conspiracy and helping to set up an ambush.

Chnina’s daughter was not in Paty’s class when the cartoons were shown and the court found her guilty of making false accusations and defamatory comments.

The last trial will last until December. REUTERS