Verdict of the Samuel Paty trial: increased sentences against “absolute barbarism”

G., the son of Samuel Paty, understood from the age of 9 that “justice has been done for his father”. This is how M^e Francis Szpiner, the lawyer for the young boy and his mother, welcomed the “balanced verdict” of the Paris Special Assize Court, delivered after more than seven weeks of hearing. The professional judges of this anti-terrorism court generally followed the requisitions of the general prosecutor's office towards the eight co-defendants, deviating from them only to make them somewhat heavier. This provoked strong reactions from their families in the courtroom, even though the defense had most often pleaded for acquittal.

Naïm Boudaoud and Azim Epsirkhanov, “fully aware of jihadist beliefs” of their friend Abdoullakh Anzorov, are those who, according to the prosecution, “provided him with the material conditions to implement them” by assassinating the history-geography professor on October 20, 2020. For this, they were both sentenced to 16 years in prison. On October 19, 2020, they accompanied Anzorov to the Rouen armory where he bought a knife – a gift for his grandfather, they maintained at the hearing. The next day, it was Boudaoud, the only one to hold a driving license, who dropped off the assassin near the Bois-d'Aulne college in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, where Samuel Paty worked. The prosecution had requested the reclassification of their incrimination into terrorist criminal association, for which the maximum sentence is 30 years, but the judges maintained the initial accusation of complicity in terrorist assassination, for which they faced life imprisonment. However, the sentence remains close to the requisitions, which were 16 years for Epsirkhanov and 14 years for Boudaoud, each time accompanied by a two-thirds security sentence – which the court ultimately did not accept.

Heavy sanctions for those responsible for the “causal chain”

Under the terms of the verdict, Brahim Chnina and Abdelhakim Sefrioui join them in the same incrimination, terrorist criminal association, with similar sentences: 13 years for the first, 15 years for the second. The sanction this time is significantly heavier than the requisitions, which had been 10 and 12 years respectively. For the court, they were the ones who “prepared the conditions for committing a terrorist act” explained President Franck Zientara. By refusing to see the lie of his daughter, who accused Samuel Paty of having excluded Muslim students from his class on freedom of expression which she did not attend, then by broadcasting a video where he called the teacher a “thug”Brahim Chnina was according to the accusation at the basis of “causal chain” leading to the attack, “triggering a hate campaign on social networks” against Samuel Paty.

In this campaign, Abdelhakim Sefrioui played “an essential role” by his “proclaimed authority” so-called imam on Chnina and her daughter, for example by directing the latter's responses in a video which it certainly could not be demonstrated that Anzorov had seen, but which “designating Samuel Paty as a target” on social networks, participated according to the court in the fatal spiral. Jumping at the announcement of the verdict, Sefrioui, who never wanted to recognize the beginning of a responsibility and even regularly victimized himself during the debates, exclaimed to the court: “ “I understood that you were involved in politics, no justice ! ». He had time to announce that he would appeal, before the president reminded him of his obligation of silence. One of his councils saw fit to make him “a political prisoner” : he was immediately disavowed by another of Sefrioui's lawyers.

« an irremediable attack on the values ​​of the Republic and secularism »

The last four accused belong to what has been called the “jihadosphere”: they were in contact with Anzorov via social networks, interacted with him, encouraged him before or paid tribute to him after the assassination. For Ismaïl Gamaev and Louqmane Ingar, the court once again upheld the terrorist criminal association. The first receives 5 years in prison including 30 months of probation, the second 3 years in prison including 2 years of probation. For provocation of terrorism, Priscilla Mangel is sentenced to 3 years in prison with suspended probation; finally, for advocating terrorism, Yusuf Cinar receives a one-year suspended sentence, accompanied by compulsory socio-judicial monitoring.

The assassination of Samuel Paty, “absolutely barbaric”constituted “an irremediable attack on the values ​​of the Republic and secularism, at the sanctuary of the school », Underlined the president while motivating the court's decisions. He caused “considerable turmoil in the country and more particularly among the teaching staff, and a definitive and lasting trauma, particularly for his 5-year-old son”. A collective trauma that justice knows is impossible to repair, but failing which it has tried to soothe.