who are the eight accused tried from Monday before the special assize court of Paris?

A second trial, four years after the assassination of Professor Samuel Paty. While six minors were sentenced by a children's court at the end of 2023, the trial of eight adults opens before the special assize court in Paris on Monday November 4. They are accused of being involved, to varying degrees, in the death of the history-geography teacher, stabbed then beheaded, on October 16, 2020, near his college in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine (Yvelines). The assassin, Abdoullakh Anzorov, a refugee from the Russian Republic of Chechnya, was killed in the process by the police.

Two relatives of this 18-year-old radicalized Islamist are dismissed for complicity in terrorist assassination, the most serious offense, because they are suspected of having had precise knowledge of his project. They face life imprisonment. Six other people are on trial for criminal terrorist conspiracy, a penalty punishable by thirty years in prison. Franceinfo returns to the profiles of these accused, whose trial is scheduled until December 20.

Azim Epsirkhanov and Naïm Boudaoud, friends of the attacker

Azim Epsirkhanov, a Russian national who arrived in France at the age of 9 in 2010, had known Abdoullakh Anzorov since primary school, according to his mother's statements during the investigation. Living in the Chechen community, this 23-year-old resident of Evreux (Eure) was living in Rouen with his girlfriend at the time of the events. On October 15, the day before the attack, Abdoullakh Anzorov visited him in the company of an acquaintance, Naïm Boudaoud, now 22 years old. This is described by the prosecution as “particularly vulnerable” et “influenceable” more “without any visible sign of violent radicalization”.

The three young men go to a cutlery in Rouen to buy a knife, matching the one found at the crime scene. Azim Epsirkhanov also admits to having tried, in vain, to find a handgun for his childhood friend. The next day, Abdoullakh Anzorov asked Naïm Boudaoud to take him to a store in Cergy (Val-d'Oise) to buy two pellet guns. One of them was found at the scene of the attack and the other at Naïm Boudaoud's house.

The same evening, the two young men were taken into police custody. During interrogations, Azim Epsirkhanov assured that Abdoullakh Anzorov had not spoken to him about the controversy at school, arising from the course taught by Samuel Paty on caricatures of Mohammed. He also said that he did not know the purpose of the weapons sought, Abdoullakh Anzorov having assured them that the knife was a gift for his grandfather. Contacted by franceinfo, his lawyer, Sarah Valduriez, did not wish to comment on these elements.

Naïm Boudaoud also denies having any knowledge of Abdoullakh Anzorov's project. His lawyer, Hiba Rizkallah, recalls that“it was never established, during the investigations, that he was aware of the existence of Mr. Paty and the controversy within the college”. Her client, for whom she intends to plead acquittal, has been in pre-trial detention for four years as “an injustice”.

Brahim Chnina, the man who called for mobilization against Samuel Paty

Of Moroccan nationality, Brahim Chnina, 52, is the father of the schoolgirl who accused Samuel Paty of having shown caricatures of Mohammed deemed obscene. The 13-year-old girl, who was actually absent from class that day, was given an 18-month suspended prison sentence for slanderous denunciation.

Co-founder of Aide-moi, an association helping people with reduced mobility to go on pilgrimage to Mecca, Brahim Chnina is accused of having launched, with Islamist activist Abdelhakim Sefrioui, a cyberharassment campaign against the professor . On October 7 and 8, 2020, he published videos on social networks to stigmatize Samuel Paty and designate him as a target, by disclosing his identity and his place of work. He also showed up at the college with Abdelhakim Sefrioui to demand the dismissal of the teacher for “showing a photo of the naked prophet” in class. Samuel Paty then filed a complaint for defamation.

Between October 9 and 13, Brahim Chnina also had nine telephone contacts with Abdoullakh Anzorov. After the attack, he explained that he had recorded his number in his directory in order to inform him, like other people, of a planned demonstration in front of the college, according to his statements to the investigating judges. But he assured that he had no connection with “the killer” and that he did not have “incited someone to kill” Samuel Patty.

If the investigating judges considered that Brahim Chnina did not in fact have precise knowledge of Abdoullakh Anzorov's projects, they considered that his concerted action with the preacher Abdelhakim Sefrioui had “contributed to the commission” of the attack. Contacted by franceinfo, his lawyer, Nabil El Ouchikli, did not wish to speak before the trial.

Abdelhakim Sefrioui, Islamist activist from the pro-Hamas Cheikh Yassine collective

Abdelhakim Sefrioui, 65-year-old Franco-Moroccan, is an Islamist activist, founder of the pro-Hamas collective Cheikh Yassine, dissolved on October 21, 2020. He is accused of having participated with Brahim Chnina “the production and dissemination of videos presenting false or distorted information intended to arouse a feeling of hatred” with regard to Samuel Paty.

From images filmed in front of the college entrance, Abdelhakim Sefrioui made a video montage, posted on YouTube on October 11, in which he denounces an Islamophobic France. He describes Samuel Paty as “thug teacher”. During interrogation, he explained that he would never have posted his video if there had been “a billionth chance of that [l’attentat] arrive”. “We just wanted administrative sanctions” against Samuel Paty, he maintains. For the prosecution, Abdelhakim Sefrioui had on the contrary “the clear intention of addressing a public made aware or radicalized by the issue of caricatures, in connection with the calls for murder broadcast in September by terrorist organizations” after the republication of the caricatures during the trial of the January 2015 attacks.

His lawyers denounce “intellectual and judicial aberration”believing that no contact was established between their client and Abdoullakh Anzorov and that there is no proof that the attacker saw the video posted five days before the attack. “He is ultimately criticized for not having anticipated the unimaginable (…) He did not have a crystal ball”castigates Vincent Brengarth. During the trial, the lawyer plans to plead for acquittal.

Priscilla Mangel, active in the jihadosphere and linked to the assassin

This thirty-year-old, who has been active in radical Islam since adolescence, exchanged numerous messages with Abdoullakh Anzorov, particularly in the days preceding the attack, according to the prosecution. They spoke via an account on Twitter that she immediately deleted after the assassination of Samuel Paty. They talked in particular about the videos made by Brahim Chnina. For the investigating judges, Priscilla Mangel, under judicial supervision since June 25, 2021, could not “ignore neither the impact of its publications and its exchanges with radicalized individuals, nor the context of very high terrorist threats”.

The investigating magistrates consider in fact that it “participated in the preparation” of “project” of the assassin, not only in view of his exchanges with him, but also “by presenting Samuel Paty’s course to him as blasphemous” et “by referring to a war of institutions against Muslims”. A “incidence” on the attack which the person concerned formally denies, according to her lawyer. “Priscilla Mangel believes that she did not comfort the perpetrator of the crime in his action, which she could not imagine”Margot Pugliese explains to franceinfo.

Yusuf Cinar, Ismaïl Gamaev and Louqmane Ingar, members of Snapchat groups with the terrorist

These three young men are accused of having provided ideological support to the terrorist. Of Turkish nationality and out of school at the age of 14, Yusuf Cinar, 22, shared a Snapchat group called “Zbrr” with Abdoullakh Anzorov, whom he considered to be “a close friend”even “like a brother”. This group, which disseminated jihadist propaganda, published after the attack the message of the terrorist's demands and photographs of the body of Samuel Paty. Yusuf Cinar, whose incarceration was punctuated by numerous incidents, will appear detained.

Arriving in France in 2013, Ismaïl Gamaev, a Russian of Chechen origin also aged 22, has, according to the prosecution, “actively participated” with Abdoullakh Anzorov and Louqmane Ingar in another Snapchat group called “Medical Students”, in which they exchanged messages of a jihadist nature. In particular, he would have “comforted Abdoullakh Anzorov” in his assassination plan in the weeks preceding the act. He also posted smiling smileys after the teacher's decapitated head was posted in the Snapchat group. Ismaïl Gamaev is under judicial supervision after two years of pre-trial detention.

Louqmane Ingar, also 22 years old, is accused of having administered and “actively participated” to the same Snapchat group. According to the judges, he planned to leave France to go to Afghanistan or Syria “in the ranks of a terrorist organization”. He spent a year in pre-trial detention before being placed under judicial supervision in November 2021.