The letters followed each other within a few days. Some teachers in Marseille have been sent death threats and a photo of Samuel Paty, reports BFMTV on Monday October 18. According to the public prosecutor’s office, an investigation has been opened. The incidents occurred in the days leading up to commemorations across France for the teacher who was murdered by an Islamist terrorist in Yvelines a year earlier, on October 16, 2020.
The couple, who teach at the Henri Vallon School in the 14th arrondissement of Marseille, first received Samuel Paty’s photo on October 8. It was already a very revealing message, clarified in a typewritten letter received four days later: “You are going to die. Don’t turn around in the street,” it read, according to BFMTV. Finally, on the night before the anniversary of the teacher’s death, a new anonymous letter was delivered.”Your last days… next week you will die”.Hoax or real threat?
The authors of these letters are already facing a prison sentence. The death threat, aggravated by the fact that it was in writing and that the victims were teachers, is punishable by five years’ imprisonment and a fine of 75,000 euros. The investigation was entrusted to the municipal security department of the southern division of Marseille. Samuel Paty had been targeted for showing cartoons of Mohammed in a lesson on freedom of expression. On Monday October 18, it was not known whether the victims had also discussed the topic with their students.