On Monday, March 2, the special appeal assize court in Paris is expected to deliver its verdict in the appeal trial of the assassination of Samuel Paty.
The appeal trial of the assassination of Samuel Paty is coming to an end. On Monday, March 2, the special appeal assize court in Paris is set to render its verdict, after long weeks of debate and memorable moments.
Brahim Chnina, 54, and Islamist activist Abdelhakim Sefrioui, 66, have been retried since the end of January for the online campaign targeting the history and geography teacher, who was murdered by Abdoullakh Anzorov on October 16, 2020.
The offensive and controversial strategy of Me Francis Vuillemin
The new lawyer of Islamist preacher Abdelhakim Sefrioui, Me Francis Vuillemin, made a strong impression at the opening of the appeal trial by adopting a new, more offensive defense strategy.
To defend his client’s behavior, Me Francis Vuillemin openly expressed his intention to introduce into the debate the allegedly “discriminatory” behavior of Samuel Paty during classes. According to the lawyer, the teacher would have suggested to Muslim students to leave the classroom if they were offended by the cartoons.
“The beheading of Samuel Paty is so horrible that it overshadows the entire case,” emphasized Francis Vuillemin before the press. “There is a taboo: we are not allowed to say that he discriminated against Muslim students. We do not protect anyone in a public school by discriminating, by asking students to identify themselves by their religion,” he added.
These comments sparked outrage from Gaëlle, Samuel Paty’s sister. “He is accused of being responsible for his own death,” she said on BFMTV. “It’s absolutely unacceptable, for the family, but especially because it’s so far from what he was! My brother was tolerant and curious about religions.”
“I do not regret any of my remarks,” the lawyer assured on BFMTV regarding his controversial defense.
Double recusal of judges
Two magistrates who presided over the trial were excluded for lack of impartiality. This is a rare enough occurrence to be noted. Me Frank Berton, the lawyer for one of the defendants, responded to this information by saying, “Quite unusual indeed,” as reported by RTL.
The issue of impartiality of the two magistrates was raised by the defense lawyers, including Me Frank Berton, during the testimony of Zohra Chnina (a pseudonym), the daughter of Brahim Chnina, which took place behind closed doors.
Two remarks made by these magistrates during the questioning of Zohra Chnina angered the defense lawyers, leading to the recusal of these two judges, according to BFMTV.
It was admitted that they had “expressed an opinion”. However, the content of these questions was not revealed due to the closed session during Zohra Chnina’s testimony. Nevertheless, the trial was able to continue normally, as the two magistrates were replaced.
Laurent Nuñez modifies his initial testimony, defense protests
A week before the verdict, the special appeal assize court experienced a courtroom incident. Testimony from Laurent Nuñez, given in his capacity as former national coordinator of intelligence and counterterrorism and read in court, became the subject of controversy.
In this text, a lawyer for the civil parties asked him if, in the context of the time, “publicly and nominatively designating a person as having offended the prophet or Islam could objectively expose them to serious danger to their security.” This question pertained to the case of Abdelhakim Sefrioui, who was retried for being involved with a student’s father in the hate campaign that led to the teacher’s murder on October 16, 2020.
In an email sent on Sunday evening from his personal account to the president of the special appeal assize court in Paris, the current Minister of the Interior subsequently affirmed that there was “definitely” a causal link between the defendants’ publications and the death of Samuel Paty.
“The incidents and debates have shown that there were major legal uncertainties in this case. We remain confident that the decision will be made based on the law,” said Me Ouadie Elhamamouchi, one of Abdelhakim Sefrioui’s lawyers, to BFMTV.
On Friday, February 27, the prosecution requested twenty years in prison for Brahim Chnina and Abdelhakim Sefrioui. In the first instance, they were sentenced to 13 and 15 years of imprisonment respectively for terrorist conspiracy. The first assize court established a “causal” link between the online campaign and the murder committed by Abdoullakh Anzorov. The special appeal assize court in Paris is expected to deliver its verdict on Monday, March 2.
