France sentences 11 for cyberbullying teen over anti-Islam remarks

A Paris court handed down suspended sentences to 11 people on Wednesday for harassing a teenager on the Internet who had made statements critical of Islam.

The defendants received suspended prison sentences of between four and six months, the public prosecutor's office confirmed on Wednesday. In addition, the defendants, aged 18 to 30, must each pay a fine of 1,500 euros.

According to the news channel Franceinfo, the young woman, who is now 18 years old, has been living under police protection since the publication of a first video critical of Islam about one and a half years ago.

The trial about the harassment of Mila – the victim's publicly known first name – was one of the first to deal with the crime of cyberbullying.

Mila had received around 100,000 hate messages, her lawyer Richard Malka said.    (dpa)