At the trial of the assassination of Samuel Paty, the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office does not consider “complicity in terrorist assassination” for the two friends of the Islamist assailant

The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office abandoned on Monday December 16 in its requisitions the “complicity in terrorist assassination” against the only two accused who were prosecuted under this charge, punishable by life imprisonment, at the trial of the assassination of Professor Samuel Paty. Naïm Boudaoud and Azim Epsirkhanov, aged 22 and 23 respectively, friends of the attacker, Abdoullakh Anzorov, an 18-year-old Chechen radical Islamist, “voluntarily associated themselves with his deadly enterprise”assured Attorney General Marine Valentin before the Paris Special Assize Court.

“They were fully aware of his jihadist beliefs and provided him with the material conditions to implement them”insisted the magistrate, explaining that “this fully characterizes the terrorist criminal association”a crime punishable by thirty years in prison. Concerning the accusation of complicity, she affirmed that she could not rely on “hypotheses”only on “certainties”. At the start of the requisitions, Nicolas Braconnay, the other representative of the prosecution, had warned that the prosecution's indictment would not correspond “probably not entirely up to expectations” civil parties.

Accused of having helped Anzorov to obtain weapons and, concerning Boudaoud, of having led him on October 16, 2020 to the surroundings of the college where Samuel Paty taught history and geography, the two young people claimed at the hearing to have completely unaware of their friend's murderous intentions and have never stopped proclaiming their innocence. “Through their active and almost permanent participation, [Naïm Boudaoud et Azim Epsirkhanov] allowed Abdoullakh Anzorov to assassinate Samuel Paty. They were the logistical support that Anzorov needed for his murderous act”assured Marine Valentin.

“Innocent victim of a radically despicable and absurd crime”

The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office will examine during the afternoon the case of the six other accused, all prosecuted for terrorist criminal association, involved, to varying degrees, in the deadly spiral which led to the assassination of Professor Samuel Paty leaving his college in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine (Yvelines).

“Samuel Paty was not a martyr. He did not die an activist. He did not die as a black hussar of the Republic, but as an innocent victim of a radically despicable and absurd crime.insisted Nicolas Braconnay. “Samuel Paty is not a symbol but, through him, much of what we are has been achieved”he added in a packed courtroom.

Islamist preacher Abdelhakim Sefrioui, 65, and Brahim Chnina, 52, are accused of having participated “the production and dissemination of videos presenting false or distorted information intended to arouse a feeling of hatred” against Samuel Paty. “What I did is irreparable and unforgivable”admitted at the hearing Brahim Chnina, the father of the schoolgirl who lied by falsely accusing Samuel Paty of having discriminated against Muslim students in his class during a lesson on freedom of expression.

In reality, the schoolgirl had not attended Samuel Paty's class and the teacher had not discriminated against any of his students. “This course was balanced and relevant, devoid of any desire to shock”recalled Nicolas Braconnay denouncing “slander” who overwhelmed the professor.

Defendants presented as members of the “jihadosphere”

A veteran of Islamist activism, founder of the (now dissolved) pro-Hamas association Cheikh-Yassine Collective, Abdelhakim Sefrioui wholeheartedly contested the accusations made against him. If the investigation established that Abdoullakh Anzorov had become aware of the controversy targeting Samuel Paty through the messages and the video published on October 7 and 8, 2020 by Brahim Chnina, nothing demonstrates that he saw the video posted by Abdelhakim Sefrioui on October 12.

“If my video hadn’t existed, it wouldn’t have changed anything” to the fate of Samuel Paty, claimed Abdelhakim Sefrioui at the hearing. Filmed in front of the entrance to the college where Samuel Paty worked, the video of the preacher evokes a “rogue teacher” having committed an act « abject ».

If the court did not uphold the offense of terrorist criminal association against these two accused, it would have the possibility of finding them guilty of common law criminal association or of provocation to terrorism, aggravated by the use of a online communication service, an offense punishable by seven years in prison and a fine of 100,000 euros.

The four other accused, Yusuf Cinar, Ismaël Gamaev, Louqmane Ingar, all aged 22, and Priscilla Mangel, 36, the only woman accused, presented by the prosecution as members of the “jihadosphere” who gravitated around Abdoullakh Anzorov on social networks, all denied, with the exception of Ismaël Gamaev, being involved in the assassination of the professor.