Eight convicted in France in relation to the murder of Professor Samuel Paty | crime news

A teacher was stabbed and beheaded in front of his school in Paris in 2020 after an online hate campaign.

A French court has jailed eight people for their role in the murder of a teacher who had shown caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad during a class debate on freedom of expression.

The Paris Special Court imposed prison sentences of between one and 16 years on the defendants, who were found guilty of organizing a hate campaign that culminated in the beheading of Samuel Paty, 47, in front of his school in Paris in 2020. by an 18-year-old of Chechen origin, who was shot dead by police at the scene.

The 540-seat courtroom was packed Friday for the verdict, which saw a panel of seven judges convene or exceed most of the terms requested by prosecutors, citing “the exceptional gravity of the facts.”

Naim Boudaoud, 22, and Azim Epsirkhanov, 23, were found guilty of accessory to murder and sentenced to 16 years in prison each. Boudaoud was accused of taking attacker Abdoullakh Anzorov to school while Epsirkhanov helped him get weapons.

Abdelhakim Sefrioui, a 65-year-old Muslim preacher, was sentenced to 15 years for organizing an online hate campaign against Paty and denouncing Paty in a video as a “thug.” His lawyer said he would appeal the decision, according to French media.

Brahim Chnina, 52, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for association with a “terrorist enterprise.” He had posted videos falsely accusing Paty of disciplining his daughter for complaining about class, naming the teacher and identifying her school.

The other four defendants, part of a network of Anzorov supporters who spread inflammatory content online, were also convicted.

“No one is saying they wanted Samuel Paty to die,” prosecutor Nicholas Braconnay had told the court. “But by lighting thousands of fuses online, they knew that one of them would lead to… violence against the blasphemous teacher.”

‘Shocked and relieved’

The verdict marks the final chapter of Paty’s trial.

Last year, a court found Chnina’s daughter and five other teenagers guilty of participating in a premeditated conspiracy and helping to prepare an ambush.

Gaelle Paty, sister of the murdered teacher, said she was “moved” and “relieved.” “Hearing the word ‘guilty’ is what I needed,” he told reporters outside court.

“I spent this week listening to a lot of rewrites of what happened, and it was hard to hear, but now the judge has declared what really happened and it feels good,” he added, his voice breaking as tears filled his eyes.

The relatives of the accused reacted with gasps, cries, screams and ironic applause, which led the judge to pause several times and ask for silence.

“They lied about my brother,” a relative shouted. Another woman, sobbing, exclaimed, “They took my baby away from me,” before being escorted out of the courtroom by police officers.