French investigators begin proceedings against three more suspects in teacher murder
- Two adults are in pretrial custody and one minor is under judicial supervision, sources said
- Investigators are treating the crime as an act of terror motivated by Islamist extremism
French investigators opened preliminary proceedings against three new suspects for membership of a terrorist group, sources close to judicial circles said on Friday, three weeks after the brutal beheading of a history teacher by a suspected Islamist.
Two adults are in pretrial custody and one minor is under judicial supervision, the sources said.
The three suspects are two 18-year-old men and one 17-year-old, it was reported. One or more of the suspects reportedly had contact with the attacker.
The suspected terrorist, an 18-year-old of Russian-Chechen origin, was later shot dead by security forces.
Teacher Samuel Paty was murdered on October 16 in a crime that shocked France and led President Emmanuel Macron to intensify a planned crackdown on Islamist activism.
Paty was killed apparently for discussing controversial caricatures of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed that originally appeared in satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, in a class on freedom of expression.