8 were convicted on terrorism charges in the 2020 beheading of a teacher in France

On Friday, a French anti-terrorism court convicted eight people of involvement in the attack In decapitation Teacher Samuel Paty outside his school near Paris four years ago, in a horrific death that shocked the country.

Paty, 47, was killed by an Islamist extremist outside his school on October 16, 2020, days after he showed caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad to his class during a debate on freedom of expression. The attacker, an 18-year-old Russian of Chechen origin, was shot dead by police.

Those tried on terrorism charges in a special court in Paris since the end of November were accused, in some cases, of providing assistance to the perpetrator, and in others, of organizing an online hate campaign before the murder occurred.

The 540-seat courtroom was packed for the verdict, which marked the final chapter of Paty’s trial. Tight surveillance was imposed, with more than 50 police officers guarding the proceedings.

Sitting in the front row was Patty’s 9-year-old son, accompanied by family members. As the lead judge, Frank Zintara, issued the rulings one after the other, emotions ran high in the room.

“I am touched, and I feel relieved,” said Gayle Patty, Samuel Patty’s sister, as she addressed a crowd of reporters after the ruling. “Hearing the word ‘guilty’ – that’s what I needed.”

She added: “I spent this week listening to a lot of rewriting of what happened, and it was hard to hear, but now the judge has mentioned what actually happened, and it feels good.”

The response of the defendants’ families was gasping, crying, screaming, and sarcastic applause, which prompted the judge to stop several times and demand silence.

One of his relatives shouted: “They lied about my brother.” Another woman cried out: “They took my child from me,” before police officers escorted her away.

The seven-judge panel met or exceeded most of the conditions requested by plaintiffs, citing the “extraordinary seriousness of the facts.”

Naim Boudaoud, 22, and Azim Ibsirkhanov, 23, two friends of the attacker, were found guilty of complicity in the murder and sentenced to 16 years in prison each. Neither of them can be released on parole for two-thirds of their term, about 10 years. Budawood was accused of driving the attacker to the school, while Ibserkhanov helped him buy weapons.

Ibrahim Shanina, 52, the Muslim father of the schoolgirl whose lies sparked the events that led to Paty’s death, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for his association with a terrorist enterprise. The prosecution had demanded a 10-year prison sentence.

Abdelhakim Sefrioui, a Muslim preacher, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for organizing an online hate campaign against Paty.

The 47-year-old teacher’s shocking death has left an indelible mark on France, with several schools now named after him.

The trial began in late November. The defendants were accused of assisting the perpetrator or organizing an online hate campaign in the period preceding the murder.

At the time of the attack, there were protests in several Muslim countries and online calls for violence against France and satire French newspaper Charlie Hebdo. The newspaper had republished its cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad a few weeks before Paty’s death, marking the start of the trial over the deadly attacks targeting the newsroom in 2015 by Islamic extremists.

The caricatures aroused strong dissatisfaction among many Muslims, who considered them a sacrilege. But the repercussions of Paty’s murder strengthened the French state’s commitment to freedom of expression and its strong connection to secularism in public life.

Shanina’s daughter, who was 13 at the time, claimed she was excluded from Patty’s class when he showed the cartoons on October 5, 2020.

Shenina sent a series of letters to his acquaintances denouncing Paty, saying that “this sick man” should be expelled, in addition to the address of the school located in the Parisian suburb of Conflans-Saint-Honorine. In fact, Shanina’s daughter lied to him and never attended the lesson in question.

Paty was teaching a class commissioned by the Ministry of National Education on freedom of expression. He spoke about the cartoons in this context, saying that students who do not want to see them can leave the classroom temporarily.

An online campaign against Paty escalated, and 11 days into the lesson, Anzorov attacked the teacher with a knife as he walked home, displaying the teacher’s head in a social media post. Later, the police shot Anzorov dead as he was advancing towards them armed.

She was Shanina’s daughter He was tried last year in juvenile court He was sentenced to 18 months’ suspended imprisonment. Four other students at Paty’s school were found guilty of involvement and received suspended prison sentences; The fifth, who referred Patty to Anzorov for money, was sentenced to 6 months in prison with an electronic bracelet.

Sefrioui, the preacher on trial, presented himself as the official spokesman for the imams of France, although he was dismissed from this role. He had filmed a video in front of the school with the student’s father. He referred to the teacher as a “thug” several times, and sought to put pressure on the school administration through social media.

Some of the defendants expressed their regret and declared their innocence on the eve of the verdict. They did not convince Patty’s family.

“It’s something that has really shocked the family,” lawyer Virginie Le Roy said before the sentences were handed down. “You get the feeling that those in the fund are completely unwilling to acknowledge any responsibility whatsoever.”

Le Roy said: “Apologies are meaningless, as they will not bring Samuel back, but clarifications are precious to us.” “We didn’t have much of an explanation of the facts.”