Eight people have been sentenced to terms ranging from one to 16 years for assisting the Islamist extremist who murdered teacher Samuel Paty outside his school in Paris four years ago.
Paty was killed and beheaded, on Oct. 16, 2020, 11 days after showing pupils cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad during a classroom debate about free expression.
The teacher’s killer, Abdoullakh Anzorov, 18, was shot dead by police, but an investigation into the circumstances leading up to the killing resulted in eight people being charged with terrorism offenses.
They went on trial at a special anti-terrorism court in Paris last month.
Some were accused of providing assistance to the perpetrator and others of organizing a hate campaign online before the murder took place.
Two friends of Anzorov—Naim Boudaoud and Azim Epsirkhanov—helped purchase weapons for the attack, and were both sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Paty’s death shocked France, and only hours after the killing President Emmanuel Macron said, “One of our compatriots was murdered today because he taught ... the freedom of expression, the freedom to believe or not believe.”
Several schools have since been named after Paty, who had only shown the cartoons to students after warning Muslim children in the class they could step outside if they thought they would be offended.
A 13-year-old girl, who was not in the class, lied about the incident to her father, Brahim Chnina, 52, who sent a series of messages to several Muslim friends, denouncing Paty and saying “this sick man” needed to be fired.
Chnina also messaged the address of the school in the Paris suburb of Conflans Saint-Honorine.
Chnina’s daughter was tried last year in a juvenile court, and given a suspended sentence.
Abdelhakim Sefrioui, who claimed to be a spokesman for Imams of France despite having been dismissed from that role, had filmed a video in front of the school with Chnina and referred to the teacher as a thug.
Prosecutors had requested a 12-year sentence for him.
Paty had been teaching a lesson on freedom of expression as set out in the National Education Ministry’s curriculum.
As a result of Chnina’s actions, an online campaign against Paty began, and led to Anzorov, a Muslim Chechen refugee, attacking the teacher with a knife outside the school.
Anzorov then beheaded Paty and displayed his head on social media.
Armed police arrived at the school and shot Anzorov dead as he advanced toward them.
The national anti-terrorism prosecutor had asked the court to downgrade the offenses of four of the eight defendants.
They dropped the charge of complicity and replaced it with a lesser charge of association with a terrorist enterprise against the two young men, accused of providing the logistical support to the killer.
The decision prompted anger from Paty’s family.
Paty’s sister Mickaelle told broadcaster TF1,"It’s more than a disappointment. In a moment like this, it feels like one is fighting for nothing.”
The attack on Paty occurred five years after 12 people were killed when Islamist extremists attacked the offices of the satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo, which had repeatedly published caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.
The cartoon images offended many Muslims, who saw them as sacrilegious.
Four other students at Paty’s school were given suspended sentences for their roles and a fifth, who pointed out Paty to Anzorov in exchange for money, was given a six-month house arrest, restricted by an electronic ankle tag.
A lawyer for the Paty family, Virginie Le Roy, said the family was shocked by the defendants’ protestations of innocence during the trial.
Le Roy said, “You get the feeling that those in the box are absolutely unwilling to admit any responsibility whatsoever.”
“Apologies are pointless, they won’t bring Samuel back, but explanations are precious to us. But, unfortunately I have to make a more than mixed assessment. We haven’t had many explanations of the facts,” she added.
