Eight adults accused of contributing to the hate campaign that led to the October 16, 2020 murder of Samuel Paty47, history and geography teacher in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine (Yvelines), are on trial in Paris from Monday in a trial scheduled to last until December 20.

The murderer, Abdoullakh Anzorov, an 18-year-old Russian radical Islamist of Chechen origin, who has asylum seeker status in France, will be the major absentee from the trial: he was killed by police shortly after stabbing and decapitating the teacher.

Read also
“Two men we must not forget”: secondary schools pay tribute to Samuel Paty and Dominique Bernard

Two young friends of the assailant to answer for “complicity in terrorist murder“The other six defendants, three of whom are on probation, are on trial for participation in a terrorist conspiracy, a crime punishable by life imprisonment. The six other defendants, three of whom are appearing free under judicial supervision, are on trial for participation in a criminal terrorist association, a crime punishable by 30 years’ imprisonment.

A hate campaign

Among the defendants are Brahim Chnina, a 52-year-old Moroccan, the father of the 13-year-old schoolgirl who falsely claimed – she was absent from class – that Samuel Paty had asked Muslim pupils to leave his classroom before showing cartoons of Mohammed, and Abdelhakim Sefrioui, a 65-year-old French-Moroccan Islamist activist.

These two men, who have been in pre-trial detention for four years, massively relayed the teenager’s lies on social networks with the aim, according to the prosecution, of “designate a target“, “arouse a feeling of hatred” and “as well as prepare several crimes“. They are both charged with participation in a terrorist conspiracy.

Related articles
Samuel Paty: after the trial of the minors, the trial of the adults

Brahim Chnina’s daughter and five other ex-college students were sentenced last autumn to sentences ranging from 14 months suspended to two years, including six months suspended, following a closed trial in the juvenile court.

“The martyrdom of Samuel Paty

Anzorov’s two friends, Naïm Boudaoud, 22, and the Russian of Chechen origin Azim Epsirkhanov, 23, who are facing life imprisonment for complicity in terrorist assassination, are accused in particular of having accompanied Anzorov to a Rouen cutlery shop the day before the attack.

“Nearly three years of judicial investigation have failed to establish that Naïm Boudaoud had any knowledge of the assailant’s criminal plans.“said Mes Adel Fares and Hiba Rizkallah to AFP, disputing “complicity“of their client.

Read also
Samuel Paty’s death: his sister goes to court to have the State’s responsibility recognized

“The tragic mechanism that led to Samuel Paty’s martyrdom reveals the depth of Islamist entryism in France and its porosity with terrorism. Its exposure in detail in open court must not only lead to the severe condemnation of those who contributed to it, but must also raise the awareness of our society in the face of a mortal peril.“Thibault de Montbrial and Pauline Ragot, lawyers for Mickaëlle Paty, one of the murdered professor’s sisters.

The trial will also be an opportunity to evoke the figure of Samuel Paty, a man “lonely, frightened, desperate“, according to the examining magistrates. “I’ve been threatened by local Islamists“, he wrote to his colleagues on October 10, 2020, four days after his lecture on freedom of expression. At no point does the threatened teacher receive police protection.

He was accustomed to walking home, and asked colleagues to drive him home on the four days preceding his murder. Except on October 16, the eve of the school vacations, when no motorized teachers were available. A sad symbol of his sense of insecurity, a derisory hammer was discovered in his backpack after his murder.