French teen gets 15 years in prison for murdering his Spanish teacher

Agnes Lassalle's partner Stephane Voirin (R) talks to lawyers at the entrance of the Pau courthouse on the first day of the trial of her murderer in Pau, south-western France on April 21, 2026. The trial of the student accused of murdering Agnes Lassalle, a Spanish teacher stabbed to death in her classroom in 2023 in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, opened on April 21, 2026, behind closed doors before the juvenile assize court of the Pyrenees-Atlantiques, as judges examine in particular the criminal responsibility of the accused. Gaizka IROZ / AFP

A French court has sentenced a 19-year-old to 15 years in prison for the murder of his Spanish teacher, Agnès Lassalle, in Saint-Jean-de-Luz.

The verdict, delivered on Friday by the Juvenile Court of Assises in Pyrénées-Atlantiques, fell short of the 16-year sentence requested by the prosecutor.

It took three hours of deliberations for the court to find the defendant guilty of fatally stabbing Lassalle in a classroom at a secondary school in the Basque coastal town in 2023.

The defendant was 16 at the time of the murder.

The trial was held behind closed doors in the town of Pau.