Security. Threats of beheading, apology for terrorism: “It explodes”

A 12-year-old schoolgirl who disseminates a macabre photo of Samuel Paty, an Afghan convicted for having welcomed the beheading of the teacher: the facts of apology for terrorism or threats have exploded in France since the assassination in mid-October of the professor, killed for showing caricatures of Muhammad.

No comparison but “it’s exploding!”

This assassination, which shocked France, also provokes sinister reactions: according to France Info, nearly 200 investigations were opened during the last week of October for apologizing for terrorism, death threats, insults or provocations to hatred. in connection with the beheading on October 16 of Samuel Paty in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, in the Paris region.

The Chancellery, which confirms this figure, specifies however that it is “to be apprehended with caution, insofar as there is no national point of comparison”.

“It’s exploding! We have many threats targeting public figures, the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, several ministers, deputies, teachers”, details a judicial source.

“There is a lot of reference in a more or less direct way to threats of beheading,” she notes.

At the Paris prosecutor’s office, which centralizes a large part of the proceedings, around 70 investigations have been opened, in particular for “apology for terrorism” and “threats of death or violence” since the assassination of the 47-year-old professor of history and geography.

Systematic investigation

“Any complaint or report is automatically the subject of an investigation,” assures the Paris prosecutor, Rémy Heitz.

“Behind these cases are various profiles, radicalized people, but also people who suffer from mental disorders or who send a message without measuring its seriousness. We are also dealing with young people”, notes the prosecutor.

In 2015, incidents were reported during the minute of silence for victims of the Charlie Hebdo attack.

Same thing Monday, during the tribute paid in schools to the murdered teacher, where “about 400 violations of the minute of silence, in sometimes light, sometimes heavy” forms, were identified, according to the minister of ‘National Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer.

Some students whistled during the tribute, others laughed, relates the Evry prosecutor’s office, which has received “a lot of reports from the National Education” for behavior that does not however constitute a criminal offense.

In Paris, a 15-year-old schoolgirl was charged with “apologia for terrorism” after having overwhelmed Mr. Paty. She received criminal compensation, an educational measure.

Many cases at school

In a high school in Caluire-et-Cuire, near Lyon, a 15-year-old second-grade student threatened a teacher with “cutting off his head”. In Gisors, a 12-year-old girl distributed a photo of Mr. Paty’s decapitated head to her comrades.

Fourteen procedures were opened Monday and Tuesday against minors for “apologia for terrorism” in schools on the sidelines of this tribute, according to the Chancellery.

Thursday morning in Albertville (Savoie), it was even four 10-year-old students who were arrested at their home, then heard by the police, according to the Chambéry prosecutor’s office. An action “disproportionate” according to their relatives, members of the Turkish community, but justified by the Ministry of the Interior in a video.

In the aftermath of Samuel Paty’s death, the Minister of Justice called for the utmost firmness in dealing with behavior inciting hatred or calling for the commission of crimes or offenses.

“Before when a person shouted ‘Allah Akhbar’, we did not necessarily go back because it depended on the context, now we necessarily pay more attention and we go back everything. There is increased attention, even when faced with things that are not necessarily characterized “, relates a Paris prosecutor’s office, noting daily reports.

Prison sentences

Substantial sentences fell this week: six months in prison and ten years of ban from French territory for a 34-year-old Algerian who had “glorified” the assassination of Samuel Paty, and one year in prison with immediate imprisonment on Thursday at Versailles for a man who had threatened with beheading a history and geography professor.

Slippages have also been recorded in neighboring Germany. In Berlin, where a tribute to Samuel Paty was paid Monday morning, the press reported a few incidents in schools. The spokesperson for a GEW teachers’ union also told Tagesspiegel that his organization had received a few calls from teachers worried that the same thing was happening to them as Samuel Paty.

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