Abdelhakim Sefrioui and Brahim Chnina are the two of the main accused in the trial for the assassination of Samuel Paty. Before their interrogation next week, anti-terrorism investigators drew up a damning portrait of the two men on Monday November 25, 2024 before the special criminal court in Paris, explains theAFP.
The two men “could not ignore making Samuel Paty a target”
By publishing messages and then videos on social networks “mendacious” et “hateful” targeting the history-geography professor, the two men “could not ignore making Samuel Paty a target”, estimated an investigator from the anti-terrorism sub-directorate (Sdat) identified as “Sdat 289”. In the box, the two men, aged 65 and 52 respectively, look elsewhere.
Prosecuted for participating “the production and dissemination of videos presenting false or distorted information intended to arouse a feeling of hatred” against the history professor beheaded by a young radical Chechen Islamist on October 16, 2020, they each face 30 years of criminal imprisonment.
Speaking via video, a first investigator, identified as “Sdat 172”, spoke of the militant journey of Islamist preacher Abdelhakim Sefrioui, “Muslim Brotherhood sympathizer” seeking to “instrumentalize” the values of the Republic. In 2004, he created the pro-Hamas collective Cheikh-Yassine, dissolved on October 21, 2020. He also participated in numerous pro-Palestinian demonstrations, “some banned, burning Israeli flags and openly displaying support for Hamas.” “He does not hesitate to appear alongside personalities like Dieudonné”, continues the investigator who also mentions the mobilization of the Islamist activist “on the question of wearing the veil in public spaces and at school”.
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“Sdat 289” focuses on the days which preceded the assassination of Samuel Paty and which will bring the two men together for the worse. It all started on October 7, 2020. Brahim Chnina, father of the schoolgirl behind the false rumors about Samuel Paty, sent messages to his contacts relaying his daughter's lies about alleged discrimination against Muslim students. Chnina gives the address of the college and the name of the professor. “You have the address and name of the professor to say stop! » writes Brahim Chnina without specifying what he means by « stop », underlines the investigator.
Videos made by the two men widely distributed
Abdelhakim Sefrioui is one of the first to contact Brahim Chnina to denounce the professor “thug”. On the morning of October 8, the two men found themselves in front of the college. The first presents itself in a misleading manner as “representative of the imams of France” and threatens the director to organize a demonstration in front of the establishment. For his part, Brahim Chnina broadcasts a first video entitled “Don’t touch my children”. The video, lasting just over two minutes, is played to the audience. We see the man, wearing a surgical mask, overplaying indignation. “He’s theatrical, close your eyes,” comments the investigator.
On October 11, Sefrioui became a director to produce his own video entitled “Islam and the prophet insulted in a public college”. The video is also played to the audience. Abdelhakim Sefrioui puts himself in the spotlight. “The abject has happened again”, the preacher begins at the start of his film. The investigator shows rushes where he whispers the answers to the lying schoolgirl.
The preacher draws a dubious parallel between what he says happened at the college and the massacre of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica in 1995. He also criticizes the speech, given a few days earlier at Les Mureaux, by President Emmanuel Macron concerning the fight against separatism. The video is accompanied by religious songs in Arabic which are reminiscent of the songs heard in the videos protesting the November 13 attacks.
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These videos, notes “Sdat 289”, have become « viral ». “There is a desire to create a buzz,” she assures. Hateful messages are pouring into the college, described as “college of racists”. “We will take care of your college and Mr. Paty,” says one of the messages.
Did Abdoullakh Anzorov, the assassin of Samuel Paty, see these videos? “It was through this media campaign that Anzorov learned of the existence of Samuel Paty and the college,” said the investigator. The investigation revealed that Anzorov made direct contact with Brahim Chnina. “Thank you for your support,” Brahim Chnina wrote to him on the evening of October 9.
