France Jails Eight Individuals for Aiding Extremist in Murder of Teacher Samuel Paty
Abdoullakh Anzorov, 18, was shot dead by police after he beheaded the history teacher outside a school in Paris in October 2020.
Eight people have been sentenced to terms ranging from one to 16 years for assisting the Islamist extremist who murdered teacher Samuel Paty outside his school in Paris four years ago.
Paty was killed and beheaded, on Oct. 16, 2020, 11 days after showing pupils cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad during a classroom debate about free expression.
The teacher’s killer, Abdoullakh Anzorov, 18, was shot dead by police, but an investigation into the circumstances leading up to the killing resulted in eight people being charged with terrorism offenses.
They went on trial at a special anti-terrorism court in Paris last month.
Some were accused of providing assistance to the perpetrator and others of organizing a hate campaign online before the murder took place.
Two friends of Anzorov—Naim Boudaoud and Azim Epsirkhanov—helped purchase weapons for the attack, and were both sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Paty’s death shocked France, and only hours after the killing President Emmanuel Macron said, “One of our compatriots was murdered today because he taught … the freedom of expression, the freedom to believe or not believe.”
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Paty’s sister Mickaelle told broadcaster TF1,”It’s more than a disappointment. In a moment like this, it feels like one is fighting for nothing.”
The attack on Paty occurred five years after 12 people were killed when Islamist extremists attacked the offices of the satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo, which had repeatedly published caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.
The cartoon images offended many Muslims, who saw them as sacrilegious.
A lawyer for the Paty family, Virginie Le Roy, said the family was shocked by the defendants’ protestations of innocence during the trial.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
