French court sentences eight people over murder of teacher Samuel Paty 

A French court has jailed eight people for their role in the murder of a teacher who had shown caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad during a class debate on freedom of expression.

The Paris Special Assize Court handed down prison terms ranging from one to 16 years to the defendants, who were convicted of organising a hate campaign that culminated in the beheading of 47-year-old Samuel Paty outside his school in Paris in 2020 by an 18-year-old Russian of Chechen origin, who was shot dead by police at the scene.

The 540-seat courtroom was packed on Saturday for the verdict, which saw a seven-judge panel meeting or going above most of the terms requested by prosecutors, citing “the exceptional gravity of the facts”.

Naim Boudaoud, 22, and Azim Epsirkhanov, 23, were convicted of complicity in murder and sentenced to 16 years in prison each. Boudaoud was accused of driving attacker Abdoullakh Anzorov to the school while Epsirkhanov helped him procure weapons.

Abdelhakim Sefrioui, a 65-year-old Muslim preacher, was given 15 years for organising a hate campaign online against Paty and denouncing Paty in a video as a “thug”. His lawyer said he would appeal the decision, according to French media.

Brahim Chnina, 52, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for association with a “terrorist enterprise”. He had published videos falsely accusing Paty of disciplining his daughter for complaining about the class, naming the teacher and identifying his school.

The other four defendants, part of a network of sympathisers around Anzorov spreading inflammatory content online, were also convicted.

“Nobody is saying that they wanted Samuel Paty to die,” prosecutor Nicholas Braconnay had told the court. “But by lighting thousands of fuses online, they knew that one of them would lead to … violence against the blasphemous teacher.”

The verdict marks the final chapter of the Paty trial.

Last year, a court found Chnina’s daughter and five other adolescents guilty of participating in a premeditated conspiracy and helping prepare an ambush.

Gaelle Paty, the slain teacher’s sister, said she was “moved” and “relieved”. “Hearing the word ‘guilty’ — that’s what I needed,” she told reporters outside the court.

“I spent this week listening to a lot of rewriting of what happened, and it was hard to hear, but now the judge has stated what really happened, and it feels good,” she added, her voice breaking as tears filled her eyes.

Families of the accused reacted with gasps, cries, shouts and ironic clapping, prompting the judge to pause multiple times and call for silence.

“They lied about my brother,” one relative shouted. Another woman, sobbing, exclaimed, “They took my baby from me,” before being escorted out of the courtroom by police officers.