“It’s important for me to be there for Samuel, to face the accused,” says his sister

Gaëlle Paty will follow the entire trial, to understand what led to the assassination of her brother.

On the first day of the trial for the assassination of Samuel Paty, his sister Gaëlle came to attend the hearing in Paris, Monday November 4. She wants to follow the trial in full. And confided in franceinfo. “It’s a trial that I’ve been waiting for for four years with my whole family. It’s strange to finally be there, to be at this famous stage that we’ve been waiting for in our heads for four years”she explains.

“I couldn't wait to be there, to see the accused, to hear the justice system talk about what happened, it was important for me. It's the beginning, it's only the first day , there will be many other days, I will be there for all of them.adds Gaëlle Paty. “It’s important for me to be there for Samuel to represent him, to face the accused and materialize what they did.”

Samuel Paty, a 47-year-old history professor, was beheaded on October 16, 2020 in front of his college by a young radicalized Chechen who was shot dead by the police. But eight other people appear in court. In front of them, Samuel's sister, Gaëlle Paty, insisted on being present. “Seeing them is not always pleasant, obviously”, but “it’s not intimidating for me, I really had this intimate need to be there, and to be present in front of them”.

Gaëlle Paty “especially wait to hear them, I need them. I want to understand how they work” in order to know “what brought them there, in their personal journey, in their surroundings”she insists. “I need to understand how we get to this point of wanting to kill and behead a teacher in France. It's so incomprehensible to me and many people. I need to understand how we get to this point.”

Gaëlle Paty thinks that these eight accused “really have a share of responsibility. It's not them who acted last, but it's still because of each of them that we got to this point. They weren't completely involved in the end but they have been actors since the start of the controversy and the cabal on social networks”estimates Samuel Paty’s sister.