The two friends of Samuel Paty's killer were found guilty of complicity in an act of terrorism. The father of the schoolgirl, at the origin of a “digital fatwa” and an Islamist preacher were sentenced to 13 and 15 years in prison.
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Five years after the death of history professor Samuel Paty, beheaded by a young Islamist near his college on October 16, 2020, the Paris Special Assize Court delivered a much heavier verdict on Friday evening than the prosecution's requisitions against the main accused.
The eight accused were involved to varying degrees in this jihadist attack which had upset the French and traumatized the teaching staff.
After seven weeks of hearing, the two “friends” of the assassin – a young Chechen radicalized by his father who had been killed by the police just after his crime – were each sentenced to 16 years in prison for terrorist assassination . Naïm Boudaoud, 22 years old, and Azim Epsirkhanov, 23 years old, received the heaviest sentences (??????) in this emblematic case although they always denied having any knowledge of the killer's deadly plan.
Their guilt was nevertheless recognized: the day before the attack, the three young people had gone to Rouen to buy a knife (not the one used to decapitate Samuel Paty) but which was found at the crime scene. At the hearing, Boudaoud and Epsirkhanov repeated that the killer had explained to them that this knife was “a gift” for his grandfather. Finally, on the day of the attack, Boudaoud accompanied the assassin to an airsoft gun store then dropped him off near the college where the professor taught.
The criminal sanction, however, remains lower than the requisitions of the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office which had called for 14 and 16 years in prison.
“Digital Fatwa”
Another expected verdict: that of the two men considered to be the real instigators of a hate campaign on the internet against the professor via a “digital fatwa”. The accused dexu were found guilty of terrorist criminal association.
The Paris Assize Court thus sentenced Brahim Chnina, 52, to 13 years in prison and the Islamist preacher Abdelhakim Sefrioui, 65, to 15 years in prison.
Brahim Chnina is the father of the schoolgirl (already convicted by juvenile justice) who caused the tragedy. She had lied when accusing Professor Paty of having discriminated against Muslim students in a course on freedom of expression where he had presented a caricature of Mohammed. Based on this lie, which he never wanted to question, the father then posted messages and a video hostile to the teacher.
Accomplices of the jihadosphere
Abdelhakim Sefrioui, a pro-Hamas Islamist, then contacted the schoolgirl's father and described Samuel Paty as a “thug” in another video. Together, the two men went to the college where Samuel Paty worked to demand administrative sanctions.
During the trial, the lawyers of the two accused recalled that there was nothing to prove that the assassin had seen their video. They stressed that their clients had never had contact with the killer.
Four other defendants, including a woman, belonged to the “jihadosphere” who were in contact with the killer on social networks. All were found guilty of inciting terrorism or advocating terrorism.
