A photo of Samuel Paty, during the tribute paid to him on October 21 (illustration) – FRANCOIS GREUEZ / SIPA
On Monday, the Paris Court of Appeal put under advisement on June 28 its request for annulment of the indictment of Abdelhakim Sefrioui, the Islamist activist considered by justice as “accomplice” of the assassin of Samuel Paty because he “targeted” him on video, even though no contact has been established to date between him and Abdoullakh Anzorov.
The issue, which was originally scheduled to be debated on May 17, had been returned to a hearing on Monday, for procedural reasons. The 47-year-old teacher was beheaded on October 16 near his college in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine (Yvelines) by Abdoullakh Anzorov, a refugee of Chechen origin who was killed shortly after by the police.
“No call for murder” in the video
According to the terms of his indictment for “complicity in terrorist assassination”, a heavy qualification, Abdelhakim Sefrioui, 62, is accused of having, with the parent of student Brahim Chnina, whom he contacted, “targeted Samuel Paty before the assassination and thus to have “facilitated the definition of a criminal project” by Abdoullakh Anzorov. At the heart of the accusation against Abdelhakim Sefrioui, file S and described by the police as “part of the radical Islamist movement since his arrival on the national territory in 1982”, a video that he posted on social networks on October 11 .
He called Samuel Paty a “thug” without naming him and invited other parents to mobilize to obtain his exclusion. But for his lawyer, Me Elise Arfi, this video “contains no call for the murder of Samuel Paty nor any call to commit a violent act against him”. It notes in its request, revealed by Liberation, that there is no proof, at this stage of the investigations, that Abdoullakh Anzorov has only seen the video of Abdelhakim Sefrioui.
A “matured” criminal project
The only lead on the subject, the hearing of Anzorov’s father, Abdouyezid: he told investigators that his son never spoke about Abdelhakim Sefroui’s video, while adding that he probably saw it. Whatever, for Me Arfi: she emphasizes that the investigation established that the killer was aware of the controversy around Samuel Paty two days before the video of Abdelhakim Sefrioui. He had already “matured his criminal project” by this date, according to her.
It is “a fundamental question of law: how can one be an accomplice of an agent whom one does not know, whom one has never seen, with whom one has never communicated? “Asks the lawyer. “People make videos or films on all subjects: should their authors be blamed if a madman uses them to kill someone? “, Also defends the counsel of Abdelhakim Sefrioui, held in solitary confinement since the end of October. While this attack aroused immense emotion in France, especially within the teaching community, “this appeal is not an insult to the memory of Samuel Paty, it is about doing law”, argues the lawyer.
“An extremely complicated debate”
The general prosecutor’s office of the Court of Appeal is opposed to this request, because “this video was undoubtedly intended to provoke against Samuel Paty reactions other than simple demonstrations or administrative sanctions”. The prosecution wants proof that Abdelhakim Sefrioui conceded to investigators that “there was indeed a latent danger” with the video. In a judgment of May 17 which keeps Abdelhakim Sefrioui in detention, the Court of Appeal has already seemed to take a position on the video of Abdelhakim Sefrioui, who would have “participated in the criminal process which led to the terrorist assassination”. According to this judgment, this link was also confirmed when Abdelhakim Sefrioui had the said video “deleted on YouTube immediately after the attack”.
Subject to new elements to come in the investigations which are far from being completed, a magistrate recognizes that as it stands, qualifying Sefrioui as an “accomplice” is “an extremely complicated debate”, in a case with “the dramatic impact on public opinion “. A lawyer for the civil parties, for his part, recognizes that it will be legally complicated to dismiss Sefrioui for complicity. Monday, before the Court of Appeal, the Advocate General confirmed to oppose this request to cancel his indictment. According to sources familiar with the matter, the decision was put under advisement on June 28.