PARIS, Oct 21 — Pupils at a school near Paris had pointed out the history teacher beheaded last week to his killer in return for €300 to 350 (RM1,476- RM1,722), France’s anti-terror prosecutor said today.
Samuel Paty was attacked on his way home on Friday from the junior high school where he taught in the suburb of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine.
He had been the subject of an online hate campaign after showing pupils cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed during a civics class.
The killer, 18-year-old Abdullakh Anzorov, gave part of the sum to a pupil outside the school, asking him to identify the teacher, prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard told a news briefing.
Others joined them, and Anzorov offered to share the rest of the money, Ricard said.
In return he received a description of Paty from two of the pupils who stayed with him for more than two hours waiting for the teacher to appear.
Other pupils walked away.
The killer told the teenagers he was planning to “humiliate and strike” the teacher, and force him to apologise for showing the cartoons.
The two pupils who allegedly helped the killer, aged 14 and 15, will be prosecuted, Ricard said.
They are among seven people facing prosecution for “conspiracy to commit a terrorist murder”.
The investigation has revealed the killer knew the name of the teacher and the school, but did not have a description of Paty, Ricard said.
“He could only identify him because he had the help of pupils at the school.” — AFP
