Brahim Chnina, who published the first hate messages against Samuel Paty, was heard this Monday by the special criminal court of Paris. The accused said he regretted his actions. He faces 30 years of criminal imprisonment.
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“He must be punished“, “I can get this son of a bitch's address“, “We have to break his back“. Here are the words of Brahim Chnina, read by the president of the court this Monday, December 2.
On October 7 and 8, 2020, the father of the schoolgirl published them on social networks, denouncing Samuel Paty as a professor “thug“, launching a campaign of hatred which would lead to his beheading. It was he who also revealed the name of the professor and the address of his college.
The investigation revealed that between October 9 and 13, he had nine telephone contacts with Abdoullakh Anzorov, the assassin of Samuel Paty.
At the bar, the father of the schoolgirl, prosecuted for terrorist conspiracy, expressed regret. “I regret very much what I did. I regret very much. I am not a terrorist and I am not part of a criminal association linked to terrorism. It's true that I made a video and I regret that it went wrong“, explained the accused.
In a white sweater over a dark blue shirt, thin, looking tired, with white hair and looking much older than his 52 years, Brahim Chnina justifies himself:
“I'm not a radicalist (sic). My practice of Islam is like that of all Muslims in France“, continues Brahim Chnina, who nevertheless joined forces with the Islamist preacher Sefrioui, founder of the pro-Hamas collective Cheikh-Yassine (dissolved on October 21, 2020), to cyberharass Samuel Paty.
At his side, in the dock, Abdelhakim Sefrioui listens. He is due to be heard in court this Tuesday. “Without Sefrioui it would not have happened like this“, estimates Brahim Chnina, who hastens to add “but I only have myself to blame. I am responsible“.
“Do you think you helped cause what happened?“, asks President Zientara. “With the video and the messages I made, yes“, concedes the accused. “I am sad to have put Mr. Paty in this situation, that was not my goal at all. If I had known that there were threatening individuals, perhaps I could have done something to help Mr. Paty, he explains in a tired voice.
“I offer my sincere apologies, from the bottom of my heart, to Mr. Paty (…). It doesn't matter what sentence you give me. I regret from the bottom of my heart and I am affected for life“, he continues, adding that he himself received death threats after the beheading of Samuel Paty.
It also implicates the principal of the Conflans-Sainte-Honorine college (Yvelines) where Samuel Paty worked. “If she had told me straight away that my daughter had lied and was not in class, I might have backed out (…). If she had done it, Mr. Paty would still be alive“, he said with confidence.
Samuel Paty assassination trial: “I destroyed your life”, the schoolgirl at the origin of the cabal against the history teacher apologizes
The principal received MM. Chnina and Sefrioui in his office on October 8. The two men, “irritated” as Mr. Chnina admitted, then threatened to organize “a demonstration of Muslims” in front of the college to denounce the alleged “discrimination” suffered by Mr. Chnina's daughter, then aged 13 years old.
In the courtroom of the “big trials”, many members of the Chnina family took their places in the public benches. They don't take their eyes off their loved one.
The trial is scheduled until December 20.
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