Assassination of Samuel Paty: how the six minors on trial are involved in the case

The first trial into the assassination of Samuel Paty opens this Monday, November 27. Six minors involved in the tragedy are tried and risk up to two and a half years' imprisonment.

This is the first trial for the assassination of Samuel Paty. Six minors are being tried at the Paris children's court from Monday, November 27 until June 27. December 8 for their involvement in the case of the death of the history geography professor which occurred on October 16, 2020. All are former students of the college Alderwood of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, in Yvelines, where taught Samuel Paty. Five of them are appearing for "criminal association with a view to preparing serious violence" and the sixth defendant is tried for “slanderous denunciation”.

Currently at liberty, the six minors are placed under judicial control. They risk up to two and a half years' imprisonment the outcome of the trial which is being held at behind closed doors, due to the age of the defendants at the time of the assassination of Samuel Paty.

The lie of a teenager to the origin of the drama

Ages 13-13 15 years old at the time of the events, the six minors are in one way or another involved in the assassination of Samuel Paty. The youngest of the defendants is the teenager the origin of the cycle of violence which was set up around the professor until the end. the terrorist attack. Tried for "slanderous denunciation", she had accused the teacher for having broadcast "obscene caricatures" of the Prophet Muhammad in class, after having requested Muslim students to report themselves and leave the class so as not to be shocked. that it was a lie and that the student had not attended the meeting. during the course she described, because she was expelled from the establishment for two days.

The teenager had peddled this lie to his father, Brahim Chnina, who had initiated the crime. a campaign of denigration and violence against the professor on social networks. A campaign to which the Islamist activist Abdelhakim Sefrioui joined and which reached Abdoullakh Anzorov, the assailant of Samuel Paty.

Me Mbeko Tabula, lawyer for the teenager, now aged 16, assured that his client "could not have imagined that things would escalate in this way". "The tragedy of the beheading of Samuel Paty continues to haunt her. She is rebuilding herself and preparing for the future. “to face a judgment with considerable stakes,” he added.

The role of adolescents in the assassination of Samuel Paty

As for the five other defendants, they had been arrested. approached by Samuel Paty's assailant on the day of the attack. One of them, aged 14, arrested by Abdoullakh Anzorov, had accepted to appoint the teacher in exchange for 300 euros. The teenager had also called the minor author of the accusations against Samuel Paty to confirm the alleged course of the crime. of the course on caricatures of Mohammed, àgrave; the attacker's request. During the various hearings, the defendant admitted to having understood that the author of the attack wanted to “hit or kill” the teacher: “I suspected that” #39;he was going to make a big mistake, because you don't offer a large sum of money like that. But he then declared: believe that the man "was going to fight [against Samuel Paty] […] Deep down, I didn't believe that he was going to kill him.

Once the money had been recovered, the teenager then asked for help. four of his friends, the co-accused, to help him with the crime. keeping watch alongside the attacker while waiting for Samuel Paty to leave the college. "He's the teacher over there!" they informed the teacher. the assailant once the teacher was in sight, only a few minutes before the assassination. During their custody sight, they had reported the statements of the assailant who said he wanted to "force" the professor to "apologize versus what he did and humiliated him.[…] He did not tell us that he wanted to kill him. However, they admitted having had doubts and having “imagined” stuff, that he was going to kill him or kidnap him.

The Ministry of Education is a civil party to the trial

The Minister of National Education, Gabriel Attal, announced in a press release the constitution of his ministry as a civil party in the first trial of the assassination of Samuel Paty, on November 27, shortly before the opening of the trial. "That seems to me essential to forcefully reaffirm our will to defend the values ​​of the Republic that Samuel Paty embodied. But also, to express my unwavering support for “the entire teaching staff, deeply wounded by the barbaric assassination of their colleague” he added.

A dozen professors, former colleagues of Samuel Paty, also joined as a civil party to be able to attend the trial of the six minors. A teacher who was part of this small group explained: at the microphone of franceinfo wanting to understand the actions of the students: "What made them stay in front of the college , accepted money from a stranger to show off a teacher they knew? How we can be brought to life à do something so horrible? The professor also hopes to observe an awareness among the defendants: "Have they become aware of the seriousness of the crime? of their actions? There is anger, but no will. of revenge."

After the trial of the six minors, another must open at the Assizes, from November 12 to December 20, 2024 to judge eight adults, including the father of the accused teenager, Brahim Chnina, and the Islamist activist Abdelhakim Sefrioui.