Four years after the assassination of Samuel Paty by a young radical Islamist, the trial of eight people opened this Monday, November 4 before the special assize court of Paris. Seven men, one woman accused of having contributed to the hate campaign which led to the death of the history and geography professor from Conflans-Sainte-Honorine. The assassin, Abdoullakh Anzorov, a young 18-year-old Russian of Chechen origin, was killed by the police shortly after his act.
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Two of the accused are friends of the killer. Naïm Boudaoud and Azim Epsirkhanov are accused of complicity in terrorist assassination. They notably accompanied Abdoullakh Anzorov to a cutlery factory in Rouen the day before the attack. This is why their involvement is more serious than that of the other accused. They face life imprisonment.
The other defendants face charges of terrorist conspiracy and risk up to 30 years in prison. Brahim Chnina is the father of the 13-year-old schoolgirl who lied. She was absent during Samuel Paty. She said the teacher asked the Muslim students to point to themselves and leave the class, which is not true.
The relay of social networks
It was by relaying his daughter’s version on social networks that Brahim Chnina attracted the attention of Abdelhakim Sefrioui, an Islamist activist who accompanied him to the college to demand the dismissal of the teacher. In front of the college, he filmed images which were included in a video which circulated widely. Both have been in pre-trial detention for four years.
Three other people who belonged to Snapchat groups revolving around the assassin will also be tried. The Turk Yusuf Cinar, the Russian of Chechen origin Ismaïl Gamaev and the Reunionese Louqmane Ingar, all three aged 22.
The only woman accused is Priscilla Mangel, 36, known to belong to the radical movement. She would have supported Abdoullakh Anzorov in his project, even if she did not know its nature.
Also readAssassination of Samuel Paty: at the time of the trial, the town of Conflans-Saint-Honorine is being rebuilt
The gearing thesis supported by defense lawyers
Overall, the lawyers dispute the complicity of their clients and assure that they did not know the assassin’s plans.
They defend the thesis of a terrible spiral that could not have been anticipated. Some present their client as having no link with the assassination of Samuel Paty or even any link with the slightest radical ideology. Faced with them, the lawyers of the civil parties hope that this trial will be an opportunity to raise awareness of the dangers that threaten our society, because there is, according to one of them, a porosity between the Islamist entryism and terrorism.
The minors who had notably guided the assassin by pointing out Samuel Paty, were tried in December 2023. They were sentenced to sentences ranging from 14 months suspended to 6 months in prison.
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