French court to issue verdict in teacher beheading trial

A French court on Friday was expected to deliver a verdict against eight people charged in connection with the jihadist beheading of schoolteacher Samuel Paty in 2020, a murder that horrified France.

Paty, 47, was beheaded in October 2020 by an 18-year-old Islamist radical of Chechen origin after showing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in class.

His killer, Abdoullakh Anzorov, died in a shootout with the police.

Paty, who has become a free-speech icon, had used the cartoons, first published in Charlie Hebdo magazine, as part of an ethics class to discuss freedom of expression laws in France, where blasphemy is legal and cartoons mocking religious figures have a long history.

In November, seven men and one woman went on trial, charged with contributing to the climate of hatred that led to the beheading of the history and geography teacher in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, west of Paris.

A court panel of professional judges was expected to announce its decision from 8:00 pm (1900 GMT) Friday.

The outcome of the trial was expected to displease all parties.

The family of Paty have accused the prosecution of leniency, while the defense has requested that most of the accused be acquitted, disputing the "terrorist intent" of the defendants.

Prosecutor Nicolas Braconnay has cautioned that the prosecutors' stance may "not completely meet the expectations" of Paty's family.

Prosecutors have requested jail terms of between a suspended sentence of 18 months and 16 years in prison for the eight defendants, who are aged between 22 and 65.

Prosecutors had downgraded "complicity in terrorist murder" charges carrying up to a life sentence for Anzorov's friends Naim Boudaoud, 22, and Azim Epsirkhanov, 23.

Paty's sister Mickaelle told BFMTV that the demands by prosecutors were "very weak", saying she feared that these would be confirmed by the court.

"I think my brother died for nothing," she said, adding that teachers were still being targeted by violence and threats.

But the prosecution insisted that both Boudaoud and Epsirkhanov should still be found guilty of "membership in a terrorist organisation", punishable by a maximum of 30 years' jail, demanding a 16-year term for Epsirkhanov.

Both are suspected of giving Anzorov logistical support, including to buy weapons.

Epsirkhanov admitted he had received 800 euros ($840) from his fellow Chechen Anzorov to find him a real gun but had not succeeded.

Boudaoud -- whom prosecutors demanded a 14-year term for -- is accused of accompanying Anzorov to buy two replica guns and steel pellets on the day of the attack.

Prosecutor Marine Valentin said that the accused had been "fully aware" of Anzorov's "jihadist convictions" when they helped him.

But Valentin said there was no certainty that they had meant to participate in the preparation of terrorist murder.

Prosecutors also called for a 10-year sentence for Brahim Chnina, a 52-year-old Moroccan father of a schoolgirl who falsely claimed that Paty had asked Muslim students to leave his classroom before showing the caricatures.

Then aged 13, she was not actually in the classroom at the time and earlier in the trial apologized to her former teacher's family.

Abdelhakim Sefrioui, a 65-year-old Franco-Moroccan Islamist activist, also faces up to 12 years in jail.

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".

Chnina spoke to Anzorov nine times by telephone in a four-day period after he published videos criticising Paty, the investigation showed.

Sefrioui posted a video criticizing what he considered to be Islamophobia in France and describing Paty as a "teaching thug", but told investigators he was only seeking "administrative sanctions".

"Nobody is saying that they wanted Samuel Paty to die", said prosecutor Braconnay.

"But by lighting thousands of fuses online, they knew that one of them would lead to jihadist violence against the blasphemous teacher."

Prosecutors requested prison terms of up to five years for four other defendants, one of whom is a woman.

They are accused of belonging to a network of jihadist sympathizers around Anzorov spreading inflammatory content online.

Paty's killing took place just weeks after Charlie Hebdo republished the cartoons, which originally appeared in 2015.

After the magazine first published them, Islamist gunmen stormed its offices, killing 12 people.