The Paris criminal court on Monday, November 18, sentenced the author of death threats against the principal of the Parisian high school Maurice Ravel after an altercation with a student refusing to remove her Islamic veil, to a sentence of 60 day fines of €10 each .
These 60 day fines, totaling €600, can be worth days in prison if the convicted person fails to pay them. The court also sentenced him to complete a five-day citizenship course and to pay €3,000 in damages to Philippe Le Guillou, principal at the time of the events.
After these incidents, Philippe Le Guillou had anticipated his retirement by a few months.
“This is far too weak a sentence”reacted Master Francis Lec, his lawyer, who hopes that the prosecution will appeal.
Asked after leaving the courtroom about his state of mind in the middle of the trial of eight people implicated in the assassination of Samuel Paty, the former principal admitted to being shaken: “Each trial brings everything back to the table, it’s not easy”.
Altercation over a veil
The Ravel high school affair dates back to February 28. The principal had an altercation with an adult student whom he asked to remove her veil within the school grounds.
The next day, several death threats were published online, including that of Ibni-Akram A., the 27-year-old young man tried in Paris, who wrote on his X account: “It’s crazy. You have to burn him alive, this dog”.
The complaint for violence filed by the student involved in the altercation was dismissed at the end of March for “insufficiently characterized offense”.
“I deeply regret and ask for forgiveness”Ibni-Akram A. told the court during his trial in October.
“People are afraid”
During the hearing, the assassinations of Samuel Paty in 2020 and Dominique Bernard in 2023 were mentioned numerous times, as was the difficulty of enforcing secularism in educational establishments.
“Sometimes it’s difficult and sometimes people are afraid”recalled Philippe Le Guillou.
In mid-March, another man arrested as part of this investigation was released in Lisieux (Calvados), but the prosecution appealed.
In November, the public prosecutor requested a ten-month suspended prison sentence for a third man tried in Bourg-en-Bresse (Ain). The decision will be made on November 28.
