Eight defendants, aged 22 to 65, will appear for seven weeks before the special Paris Assize Court, composed entirely of professional magistrates, from November 4 to December 19. Four years after the assassination of Samuel Paty by the terrorist Abdoullakh Anzorov, shot dead shortly after by the police, two of his friends were tried in particular for “complicity” and faced life imprisonment. The others, who will appear for terrorist conspiracy, risk a maximum of 30 years of criminal imprisonment.
Naim Boudaoud
This 22-year-old Frenchman is being prosecuted for “complicity in terrorist assassination”. Described by the prosecution ” vulnerable “, “influenceable”, et “without any visible sign of violent radicalization”, he rendered various services to his friends: the attacker Abdoullakh Anzorov and Azim Epsirkhanov. The day before the attack, he took the jihadist to a cutlery in Rouen to buy a knife similar to the one found at the scene. The same day of the attack, he accompanied him to a store to purchase Airsoft guns and steel pellets.
Azim Epsirkhanov
This 23-year-old Russian of Chechen origin, who arrived in France in 2010, is the second accused of complicity in a terrorist assassination. According to the prosecution, he “actively helped and supported” Abdoullakh Anzorov, his friend since college, in the research and purchase of weapons. During a hearing, Epsirkhanov admitted to having received 800 euros from Anzorov to get him a firearm urgently, a task in which he was ultimately unsuccessful.
brahim chinina
Aged 52 and of Algerian nationality, he is the father of the schoolgirl at the origin of the controversy surrounding Samuel Paty's lessons. Co-founder of the “Aide-Moi” association, to accompany people with reduced mobility on their pilgrimage to Mecca, Brahim Chnina is accused of having orchestrated, with Abdelhakim Sefrioui, a cyberharassment campaign against the professor. He targeted him in videos, stating his name and the name of the college. Brahim Chnina also had nine telephone exchanges with the terrorist Abdoullack Anzorov between October 9 and 13. In detention since October 2020, he presents himself as a victim, rejecting any responsibility for the facts with which he is accused.
Abdelhakim Sefrioui
This 65-year-old Franco-Moroccan is an Islamist activist and founder of the pro-Hamas collective Cheikh Yassine, dissolved in October 2020. Abdelhakim Sefrioui is accused of having participated, with Brahim Chnina, “the production and dissemination of videos presenting false or distorted information intended to arouse a feeling of hatred” towards Professor Samuel Paty. Judged detained, he risks 30 years in prison. His lawyers denounce “intellectual and judicial aberration”, deny contact between him and the assailant. In his video, which qualified Samuel Paty as “thug” and denounced “the France of Islamophobia”. Explains to him that he just wanted, with Brahim Chnina, “obtain administrative sanctions” against the teacher.
Priscilla Mangel
She is the only woman among the accused. Converted to Islam at 16, Priscilla Mangel, now 36, was married to Yacine Benhamouda, associated with the radical Islamist movement. She herself has appeared in several anti-terrorism proceedings. The prosecution accuses him of having exchanged discreetly on Twitter with Abdoullakh Anzorov, presenting Samuel Paty's course as “the illustration of the war waged by republican institutions against Muslims”. These messages would have “comfortable” the assailant in his project. Since June 25, 2021, she has been under judicial supervision.
Yusuf Cinar
This 22-year-old Turkish national is accused of having shared with Abdoullakh Anzorov a Snapchat group called “Zbrr” dedicated to jihadist propaganda. This group broadcast, after the attack, Anzorov's message of protest as well as photos of the body of Samuel Paty, followed by tributes to the attacker. Out of school at 14, Yusuf Cinar lived before his incarceration in October 2020, mainly from drug trafficking. His detention was marked by several incidents.
Ismaïl Gamaev
Aged 22, this Russian of Chechen origin entered France illegally in 2013 and had refugee status until 2020. The prosecution accuses him of having actively participated in a Snapchat group with Abdoullakh Anzorov, where exchanges were made messages with jihadist content. In particular, he would have “comfortable” Anzorov in his assassination plan. After images of the attack were broadcast on his Snapchat group called “Medical Students”, Gamaev reacted with smiling smileys. He is currently under judicial supervision after two years of detention.
Louqmane Ingar
He is accused of having administered and actively participated in the same Snapchat group as Ismaïl Gamaev, where jihadist content was exchanged. According to the prosecution, this 22-year-old man planned to leave France to join Afghanistan or Syria in the ranks of a terrorist organization. After a year of pre-trial detention, he was placed under judicial supervision on November 10, 2021.
