French Teenager Apologizes at Trial for Telling Lies That Led to Her Teacher’s Beheading
“I destroyed your lives, I am sorry.”
What a horrific story this, and what a lesson this young woman had to learn about the power of lies.
The Times of Israel reports:
French teen apologizes at trial for lies that led to her teacher’s beheading
A teenager whose lies about her teacher are accused of contributing to the educator’s murder by an Islamist radical apologized to his family in a French court on Tuesday.
Eight people have been on trial since early November, charged with contributing to the climate of hatred that led to an 18-year-old of Chechen origin beheading teacher Samuel Paty outside Paris in 2020.
They include Brahim Chnina, the 52-year-old Moroccan father of the adolescent testifying Tuesday.
Then aged 13, the adolescent falsely claimed that Paty had asked Muslim students to leave his classroom before showing caricatures of the prophet Mohammed.
She was not in the classroom at the time.
“I would like to apologize to the family,” the 17-year-old, who has not been named, told the court. “I destroyed your lives, I am sorry.”
Also on trial is Abdelhakim Sefrioui, a 65-year-old French-Moroccan Islamist activist.
He and Chnina spread the teenager’s lies on social networks with the aim, according to the prosecution, of “designating a target,” “provoking a feeling of hatred” and “thus preparing several crimes.”
Both men have been in pre-trial detention for the past four years.
The teenager told the court that she lied to her mother to justify why she had been suspended from school for two days over her behavior and repeated absences.
“I was in panic and stress,” she said. “I told her I had been in class and that I wasn’t happy with what went on there and that the teacher excluded me. That we looked at cartoons.”
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Comments
“Both men have been in pre-trial detention for the past four years.”
Without addressing the merits of the case at all, four years? What the hell? That’s approaching American standards of shuffle and delay.
What are they waiting for? They should have been on trial three years and six months ago. The guilty would be three years into their sentences and the innocent could be rebuilding their lives.
“Justice delayed is justice denied” is not just an alliterative slogan, it’s a bedrock truth.
So, is the teenager also on trial? If not, why not?
As far as the delayed trials go, one wonders what behind the scenes machinations are happening. It’s not clear that the delays are caused by France. Might be by the lawyers representing the accused.
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