The father of a French student whose description of the use of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad in a free speech class contributed to the teacher’s tragic murder is currently on trial, facing charges of association with a terrorist network.
Just days after Samuel Paty, 47, displayed the caricatures to his students in 2020, an 18-year-old assailant of Chechen descent brutally stabbed him multiple times and beheaded him outside his school in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine near Paris.
This incident followed the publication of several videos on social media by a pupil’s father, Brahim Chnina, who incorrectly accused Mr. Paty of punishing his daughter for voicing concerns about the class, subsequently disclosing Mr. Paty’s name and the name of the school.
Prosecutors allege that Mr. Chnina collaborated with Abdelhakim Sefrioui, the founder of a radical Islamist organization, to incite hatred against the teacher.
“They placed a target on the teacher’s back,” stated Thibault de Montbrial, attorney for Mr. Paty’s sister, Mickaelle Paty, during a press briefing.
“Their public claims… the videos they produced attacking this teacher… this entire spiral directly led to the horrific decapitation of Samuel Paty.”
Members of the media gather outside the courtroom for the trial
“It will be intriguing to see how they can argue that, after orchestrating a complete chain of events from A to Y, they are not accountable for the result at Z.”
Both individuals face charges of association with a terrorist organization.
Mr. Chnina’s attorney refrained from making comments prior to the trial’s commencement.
Mr. Sefrioui’s lawyer, Ouadie Elhamamouchi, has asserted that there is no evidence linking Mr. Sefrioui to the Chechen assailant, who was fatally shot by police.
Mr. Elhamamouchi stated that Mr. Sefrioui intends to demonstrate to the court “that he has no connection whatsoever to this abhorrent attack, which he has condemned from the very beginning.”
In addition to Mr. Chnina and Mr. Sefrioui, six others are on trial in Paris, including two associates of Mr. Paty’s murderer, Abdullakh Anzorov.
Prosecutors argue that they were aware of Mr. Anzorov’s intentions to kill Mr. Paty and assisted him in acquiring weapons.
Both are charged with complicity in a terrorist killing, and French media reports indicate that they have both denied any wrongdoing.
Last year, a court found Mr. Chnina’s daughter along with five other teenagers guilty of participating in a premeditated criminal conspiracy and aiding in the preparation of an ambush.
Mr. Chnina’s daughter was not actually enrolled in Mr. Paty’s class when the caricatures were presented.
The court ruled her guilty of making false accusations and slanderous statements.
According to French media, the 13-year-old made the allegations against Mr. Paty when her parents inquired about the reason for her two-day school suspension.
The ongoing trial is expected to last until December.
Teachers from Mr. Paty’s school are closely monitoring the trial, as noted by Antoine Casubolo Ferro, representing 14 of his colleagues.
“They anticipate that the (French) republic and justice will assert: enough, don’t interfere with teachers… don’t compromise freedom of expression,” Mr. Casubolo Ferro expressed to reporters.
