Before the Special Assize Court, Brahim Chnina, the father of the teenager who lied, and who had launched the wave of cyberharassment against the professor, regretted but provided few explanations, exasperating the civil parties.
This Monday, at the start of the 5th week of the trial for the assassination of Samuel Paty, the Special Assize Court heard from Brahim Chnina, the father of the teenager who lied about his presence during the murdered professor. Questioned for 10 hours, he did not answer the questions clearly, and left the room with a great feeling of frustration.
It was he who then launched the wave of cyberharassment, a hate campaign against the history and geography professor which led to the death of Samuel Paty in October 2020, beheaded by a young radical Islamist. “We must punish him”, “We must break his back”, “I can have the address of this son of a bitch”, he wrote in particular in messages published before the murder of the teacher.
Regrets but no explanations
“I am not a terrorist, I was stupid and I regret it”: these words, Brahim Chnina, emaciated figure, repeats them a dozen times before the Court. But when it comes to understanding what pushed him to broadcast hateful videos and messages towards Samuel Paty on social networks, the 52-year-old man gives no explanation.
Apolline Morning of December 3 – 7 a.m./8 a.m.
“Why didn't you even listen to those who told you that the situation was going to degenerate?” asked a lawyer for the professor's family. “I don’t know, I don’t remember,” the accused says.
“If Samuel Paty had agreed to meet me to discuss, he would still be alive”
Because according to him, if there are explanations they can be found elsewhere: “If the director of the college had told me that my daughter was absent from class, if the terrorist had not used my messages, or if Samuel Paty had agreed to meet me to discuss, he would still be alive,” he concluded in a low voice, facing the exasperated civil parties.
Prosecuted for terrorist conspiracy, he faces 30 years of criminal imprisonment. The trial is scheduled to run until December 20.
