Up to sixteen years in prison demanded in the murder case of French teacher Samuel Paty, verdict tonight

Paty, a 47-year-old history and geography teacher, was stabbed and beheaded near his school in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, in the Paris metropolitan area, on October 16, 2020, by Abdoullakh Anzorov, a Russian refugee of Chechen origin. The radicalized Islamist was then shot dead by the police.

Five students from the school, fourteen and fifteen years old at the time of the facts, were sentenced at the end of last year to prison terms of fourteen months, suspended for up to six months with an ankle monitor. They were accused of standing guard at the school and pointing out Samuel Paty to the perpetrator for a fee.

A sixth teenager, aged 13 at the time, was tried on a false charges after admitting she had lied about the contents of a Samuel Paty class she had not attended. She said that during class, the teacher asked Muslim students to identify themselves and go outside before showing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

Father of pupils

That lie was the basis of the fierce campaign fueled on social media by the girl’s father, Brahim Chnina, and Islamist activist Abdelhakim Sefrioui. The campaign also brought to light the later perpetrator, Abdoullakh Anzorov.

The trial against the seven men and one woman involved in the hate campaign that led to his death has been ongoing since early November. This concerns adults between 25 and 65 years old. A prison sentence of twelve years was demanded against the radical Islamist preacher Sefrioui. He is prosecuted for participation in a terrorist criminal organization. In the final hearing of the trial he claimed to reject terrorism.

The father of the girl who made unjustified accusations against Paty, Brahim Chnina, is also being prosecuted for participation in a terrorist criminal organization. The public prosecutor demands ten years in prison.

Purchase weapons

Two other defendants, Naïm Boudaoud (22) and Azim Epsirkhanov (23), are charged with complicity. They themselves deny any involvement. They were both friends with the perpetrator and allegedly helped him purchase weapons. However, the Public Prosecution Service has requested that the charges against them be reclassified as participation in a terrorist criminal organization and are demanding fourteen and sixteen years in prison respectively.

The court is now considering seventeen main charges and twenty-two additional questions about the guilt or innocence of the defendants. The verdict is expected on Friday evening.