French authorities said Saturday that a 17-year-old student has been charged with promoting terrorism by spreading a series of threats against one of his teachers, whom he allegedly intended to stab.
The student from the Loire-Atlantique department in western France had made several threats against a teacher in messages sent via the Telegram messaging platform and, according to the Nantes prosecutor’s office, will now have to face charges of apology and death threats.
The young man was arrested on Thursday morning after the intelligence services raised the alarm after detecting the threats. “During his arrest, the young man admitted some of the facts, but not the intention to attack his teacher,” explained the Nantes prosecutor, Renaud Gaudeul, in a statement.
Although prosecutors have requested that the teenager be placed in preventive detention, the investigating judge has referred the matter to another judge, who has opted to place him in a juvenile centre, a decision that has already been appealed by the prosecution, according to reports in the newspaper ‘Le Figaro’.
Jean Perrin High School student had claimed he intended to “stab one of his teachers in the jugular” and had introduced himself in Telegram groups as a follower of the terrorist group Islamic State.