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Muslim schoolgirl admits lying that her teacher was Islamophobic - which led to him being decapitated by a jihadist - because she was suspended for two days and worried her parents would be angry
Samuel Paty, 47, was brutally stabbed and decapitated on October 16, 2020
By DAVID AVERRE and ELENA SALVONI
Published: 10:59 EST, 26 November 2024 | Updated: 06:53 EST, 27 November 2024
The Muslim schoolgirl who accused her teacher of Islamophobia and began rumours that led to a jihadist decapitating him in the street in France has admitted lying and apologised to the victim's family in a remarkable court hearing today.
History and geography teacher Samuel Paty was murdered on October 16, 2020 by Abdoullakh Anzorov, an 18-year-old Islamist radical of Chechen origin.
Anzorov tracked down 47-year-old Paty and brutally hacked his head off after seeing pictures and videos of him circulated on social media as part of a ruthless campaign of harassment.
It began after the schoolgirl in question claimed that Paty had ordered Muslim students to leave his classroom while he showed the rest of the class caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad by satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.
But she revealed today that she had not even been present in the class and invented the lie, fearing repercussions from her parents after she was suspended two days for bad behaviour.
The student, who was 13 at the time of the murder and whose identity remains protected due to her age, cried as she addressed Paty's family.
'I know it's hard to hear, but I wanted to apologise... I wanted to apologise sincerely. I'm sorry for destroying your life,' she reportedly said through tears.
'I apologise for my lie that brought us all back here,' she added, admitting to those in attendance, including the accused: 'Without me, no one would be here.'
The schoolgirl's father, Brahim Chnina, is accused of launching the online harassment campaign against Paty, while other teen students were tried last year after they identified him for the attacker in exchange for a few hundred euros.
Anzorov, who had requested asylum in France and travelled more than 60 miles to cut down Paty in public, was killed by police shortly after the murder near the school in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine west of Paris.
Paty is regarded as a free-speech hero by many in France.
He had shown the Charlie Hebdo caricatures to students as part of an ethics class in which his pupils were discussing the fallout of the 2015 terror attack on newspaper's offices in which 12 people were murdered by extremists.
But he had not ordered any students to leave the room, instead telling them what he was going to do as part of the ethics lesson before inviting them to turn away if they thought they would be offended by the caricatures.
Seven men and one woman are appearing at the Special Assize Court in Paris amid the trial over his murder, which is set to last until December 20.
Chnina is one of them, facing charges of association with a terrorist organisation for his alleged involvement in the online campaign targeting Paty.
Six students, including Chnina's daughter, were tried last year for their role in Paty's death.
The schoolgirl had accompanied her father to file a complaint at the time. 'I wanted to tell my parents that it was false, I knew that my father was not going to do anything to me , but I was afraid to say it,' she said in court today.
After Paty's murder, she was taken into police custody, during which time she continued to lie. 'My teacher had been decapitated, my father was in police custody, I couldn't say it was false,' she said.
She finally confessed the truth after 30 hours and two police interviews.
The schoolgirl received an 18-month suspended sentence for the slanderous allegations she made against Paty that ultimately proved the catalyst for his murder.
Her five co-defendants, all of whom were aged 14 or 15 at the time of the murder, faced charges of criminal conspiracy with the aim of preparing aggravated violence.
Four were handed suspended sentences but one received a six-month term with an electronic tag after being identified as the person who pointed Paty out to Anzorov.
Also on trial at the court in Paris is Abdelhakim Sefrioui, a 65-year-old Franco-Moroccan Islamist activist.
He and Chnina spread the teenager's lies on social networks with the aim, according to the prosecution, of 'designating a target', 'provoking a feeling of hatred' and 'thus preparing several crimes'.
Both men have been in pre-trial detention for the past four years.
Between October 9 and 13, Chnina spoke to Anzorov nine times by telephone after he published videos criticising Paty, the investigation showed.
Sefrioui meanwhile posted a video criticising what he considered to be Islamophobia in France and describing Paty as a 'teaching thug'.
He insisted to investigators he was only seeking 'administrative sanctions' against Paty, not violence.
Two young friends of the attacker are facing even graver charges of 'complicity in terrorist murder', a crime punishable by life imprisonment.
Naim Boudaoud, 22, and Azim Epsirkhanov, 23, a Russian of Chechen origin, are accused of having accompanied Anzorov to a knife shop in the northern city of Rouen the day before the attack.
'Nearly three years of investigation have never managed to establish that Naim Boudaoud had any knowledge of the attacker's criminal plans,' his lawyers Adel Fares and Hiba Rizkallah said.
Boudaoud is accused of accompanying Anzorov to buy two replica guns and steel pellets the day of the attack.
Epsirkhanov admitted he had received 800 euros from Anzorov to find him a real gun but had not succeeded.
Four other defendants interacted with Anzorov online prior to Paty's murder.
Yusuf Cinar, a 22-year-old Turkish national, shared a jihadist Snapchat account with him, that later published images of Paty's killing.
Ismail Gamaev, a 22-year-old Russian of Chechen origin with refugee status, and Louqmane Ingar, also 22, exchanged jihadist content on a Snapchat group with Anzorov. The first posted an image of Paty's head with smiley faces after the killing.
The only woman on trial is 36-year-old Priscilla Mangel, a Muslim convert who conversed with Paty's killer on X, describing the teacher's class as 'an example of the war waged by (France's) Republican institutions against Muslims'.
Thibault de Montbrial and Pauline Ragot, lawyers for Mickaelle Paty, one of the sisters of the murdered teacher, said his killing had highlighted the 'depth of Islamist infiltration in France'.
The trial should 'allow our society to become aware of a mortal peril', they added.
