Four more students charged over murder of teacher Samuel Paty

Prosecutors allege some pupils pointed out the victim to killer Abdullahk Anzorov

Pedestrians pass by a poster depicting French teacher Samuel Paty placed in the city center of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, 30kms northwest of Paris, on November 3, 2020, following the decapitation of the teacher on October 16. - France on November 2 honoured the teacher beheaded near his school in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine by a suspected Islamist radical as millions of students returned to class after autumn break and a spate of attacks that have put the country on edge. (Photo by Thomas COEX / AFP)
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Four more students face charges over the killing of French teacher Samuel Paty.

Three of them are alleged to have pointed out the teacher to his killer, sources told AFP on Thursday.

Three other pupils were charged with complicity earlier this month after Paty was killed and beheaded on October 16 outside the school where he taught in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, 24 kilometres from central Paris.

Paty, who had shown his students cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed as part of a lesson on free speech, was tracked down by Abdullahk Anzorov, 18.

The three pupils, who are 13 or 14 years old, are being charged with "complicity in a terrorist murder”.

The fourth pupil is the daughter of Brahim Chnina, who launched a virulent online campaign against Paty denouncing the teacher's use of the cartoons published by satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

She has been charged with "slanderous denunciation" of Paty, after relating her version of events in the classroom, although she did not actually attend his civics lesson in question.

Paty's murder sparked a torrent of outrage that prompted President Emmanuel Macron to crack down on Islamist extremism and violence.

The country is reeling from a wave of extremist attacks since 2015 that have killed more than 250 people.