Abdelhakim Sefrioui appeared just as he had before. Tireless in argument, Sefrioui proved to be an exhausting debater: a master of diversion, adept at casuistry and a virtuoso of circumlocution. His interrogation on Thursday, February 19, at the retrial for the murder of Samuel Paty before the Paris special criminal court, was almost identical to his first trial, which ended with his conviction on December 20, 2024, sentencing him to 15 years in prison for his role in the crime.
Unlike his co-defendant Brahim Chnina, aged 54 but who seemed 20 years older, the 66-year-old Sefrioui appeared unchanged since his conviction for his involvement in the hate campaign that led to the death of the history and geography teacher on October 16, 2020. And, unlike Chnina, a father whose daughter attended Paty's middle school and who, the previous day, admitted to sharing some responsibility for the fatal spiral that claimed the teacher's life, the Islamist activist's position remained entirely unaltered.
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Appeals trial for murder of teacher Samuel Paty focuses on defendants' personal lives
He was within his rights to contest the charge against him, especially given how difficult it can be to define the contours of "terrorist criminal conspiracy." It will be up to the criminal court to decide whether to uphold the reasoning established at first instance: that there was an "understanding" between the two men to accuse Paty of blasphemy, in a climate of terrorist threat linked to the issue of cartoons. This should "necessarily" have led them to anticipate that their "digital fatwa" might prompt a radicalized individual to act.
