A 17-year-old boy, arrested on Friday, was charged on Saturday with “public apology for an act of terrorism” and “death threats” against a teacher, the Nantes prosecutor’s office said on Saturday. An Islamic State flag was found in his room.
He had written on a social network that he intended “plant in the jugular” one of his teachers. A 17-year-old student from a high school in Rezé (Loire-Atlantique) was brought before a court for death threats and condoning terrorism, the public prosecutor announced on Friday, September 13. He was indicted on Saturday for “public condoning of an act of terrorism” and “death threats.” The young man, who was previously unknown to the police, even claims to be one of their “followers” of the Islamic State, the prosecutor in Nantes said.
The Nantes public prosecutor’s office was alerted to the high school student’s messages by “an intelligence service” on the night of Wednesday to Thursday. The young man was arrested by the Rezé gendarmerie company on Thursday morning “shortly after 6 o’clock, at his home” located in a neighboring municipality. The search carried out in his room “enabled the recovery of an Islamic State flag, an airsoft pistol and two knives, one of which was obtained the same day”added the magistrate.
“During his police custody, the person concerned admitted to some of the facts but not the intention of physically attacking his teacher.”said the Nantes prosecutor, Renaud Gaudeul, in a press release.
The prosecution has entrusted the continuation of the investigations to the Anti-Terrorism Group of the Interdepartmental Service of the Judicial Police in Nantes. An initial exploitation of its digital and telephone tools made it possible to find communications on Tik Tok and Telegram. There, he broadcast violent actions of the Islamic State.
At the end of his police custody, the young man was brought before an investigating magistrate in Nantes, for “counts of public apology for an act of terrorism committed by means of an online public communication service, and death threats against a person responsible for a public service mission”. The prosecution had requested a detention warrant against the young man but the Judge of Liberties placed him in a Youth Judicial Protection home outside the Loire-Atlantique department. The prosecution has appealed this decision.
In a statement, the rectorate of the Nantes academy declared that the academic services were “in contact with the management team of the establishment” school where the targeted teacher works. The teacher benefits “of support and the functional protection granted to him” by the rector.
Update : Saturday, September 14, with the indictment of the teenager.
