A French anti-terrorism court found eight people guilty on Friday in beheading of teacher Samuel Patty outside his school near Paris four years ago, a gruesome death that shocked the country.
Petty, 47, was killed by an Islamic extremist outside his school on October 16, 2020. days after showing caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad during a free speech debate in his class. The attacker, an 18-year-old Russian of Chechen origin, was shot dead by the police.
Those who have been on trial on terrorism charges at a special court in Paris since late November have been accused in some cases of aiding a criminal and in others of organizing an online hate campaign before the murder.
STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP via Getty Images
The 540-seat courtroom was packed for the sentencing, the latest chapter in Patti's trial. Increased surveillance was carried out, more than 50 police officers guarded the process.
Patti's 9-year-old son sat in the front row, accompanied by family members. Emotions ran high in the courtroom as Chief Justice Frank Zientara handed down the sentences one after the other.
“I'm emotional and relieved,” Gael Patti, Samuel Patti's sister, said to a crowd of reporters after the verdict. “Hearing the word 'guilty' was just what I needed.”
“I've spent this week listening to a lot of retellings of what happened, and it was hard to hear, but now the judge has said what actually happened, and it feels good,” she added, her voice breaking as tears welled up. her eyes
The families of the defendants reacted with sighs, cries, shouts and ironic clapping, prompting the judge to pause several times and call for silence.
“They lied about my brother,” one relative shouted. Another woman sobbed, “They took my baby away,” before being led away by police officers.
The seven-judge panel met or exceeded most of the terms requested by prosecutors, citing the “exceptional gravity of the facts.”
22-year-old Naim Budaud and 23-year-old Azim Epsirkhanov, friends of the attacker, were found guilty of complicity in the murder and sentenced to 16 years in prison each. None of them are eligible for parole for two-thirds of the term, about 10 years. Budaud was accused of driving the attacker to school, and Yepsirkhanov helped him buy weapons.
Brahim Chnina, 52, the Muslim father of the schoolgirl whose lies triggered the events that led to Pati's death, has been jailed for 13 years for links to a terrorist organisation. Prosecutor's office demanded 10 years for him.
Abdelhakim Sefrioui, a Muslim preacher, received 15 years for organizing an online hate campaign against Pati.
The shocking death of the 47-year-old teacher left an indelible mark on France, and several schools now bear his name.
The trial began at the end of November. The defendants were accused of aiding a criminal or organizing an online hate campaign before the murder.
At the time of the attack, there were protests and calls for violence against France and satire in many Muslim countries French newspaper Charlie Hebdo. The newspaper republished its cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in the weeks before Petty's death to mark the start of a trial over the deadly 2015 attacks on its newsroom by Islamic extremists.
The caricature images greatly offended many Muslims, who saw them as sacrilegious. But the aftermath of Patty's assassination reinforced the French state's commitment to freedom of speech and its firm commitment to secularism in public life.
Chnina's daughter, who was 13 at the time, claimed she was kicked out of Pati's class when he showed the cartoons on October 5, 2020.
Chnina sent a series of messages to his contacts condemning Petty, saying that “this sick man” should be fired, as well as the address of the school in the Paris suburb of Conflans-Saint-Anarin. In reality, Chnin's daughter had lied to him and had never been to the lesson in question.
Patey was teaching a lesson on freedom of expression mandated by the Ministry of National Education. He discussed the cartoons in that context, saying that students who don't want to see them can leave the classroom temporarily.
An online campaign against Pati took off, and 11 days after the lesson, Anzorov attacked the teacher with a knife as he walked home and displayed the teacher's head in a social media post. Later, the police fatally shot Anzorov when he was walking towards them armed.
Chnin's daughter was tried last year in the juvenile court and received an 18-month suspended sentence. Four other students at Patty's school were found guilty of participating and given suspended sentences; the fifth, who pointed Anzorov Pati for money, received 6 months with an electronic bracelet.
Sefrioui, a convicted preacher, presented himself as a spokesman for the imams of France, although he was removed from that role. He was filming a video in front of the school with the student's father. He called the teacher a “thug” several times and tried to put pressure on the school administration through social media.
Some of the defendants expressed regret and declared their innocence on the eve of the sentencing. They did not convince Patti's family.
“It's something that really shocks the family,” attorney Virginie Le Roy said ahead of the sentencing. “It feels like those in the box are absolutely unwilling to take any responsibility.”
“An apology is pointless, it won't bring Samuel back, but an explanation is valuable to us,” Le Roy said. “We don't have a lot of explanations for the facts.”