The French Senate on Monday deliberates over a draft law that seeks to prohibit justification of crime with ethnic or religious motives on constitutional grounds, following the recent killing of a French teacher by a Chechen teenager
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th October, 2020) The French Senate on Monday deliberates over a draft law that seeks to prohibit justification of crime with ethnic or religious motives on constitutional grounds, following the recent killing of a French teacher by a Chechen teenager.
"Believing that community aspirations are making themselves heard more and more, Philippe BAS , Bruno RETAILLEAU, Herve MARSEILLE and several of their colleagues wish, through this proposed constitutional law, to reaffirm that the laws of the Republic prevail over standards arising from religious convictions or rules based on ethnicity," the Senate said in a statement.
It added that the bill envisions amending Article 1 of the French Constitution, allowing the equality of all before the law regardless of origin, race or religion, by affirming the principle, under which "no individual or group may rely on their origin or religion to exempt themselves from respect for the common rule."
According to the statement, the bill also seeks to complete Article 4 of the Constitution with a provision protecting freedom to form and manage activities of political parties with respect for secularism "in order to prevent communitarian parties."
French history teacher Samuel Paty was beheaded in the outskirts of Paris on Friday night. The main suspect for the attack, Moscow-born Chechen-teenager, identified as Abdullakh Anzorov, was shot dead by security forces. The attack came after 47-year-old Paty showed a caricature of the Islamic prophet Muhammad to his students at the school in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, north-west of Paris.
The investigation into the matter continues, following the Defense Council meeting on Sunday, chaired by French President Emmanuel Macron, who ordered the strengthening of security in schools across France after the fall break.
According to the media reports, 11 people, including members of the killer's family, have been taken into custody over the deadly attack.
Meanwhile, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has condemned the attack and called for the French authorities not to seek seek a "Chechen trace" in it, stressing that the 18-year-old attacker, who had lived in France legally since 2008,� was likely radicalized there.
