(20 Dec 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Paris, France - 20 December 2024
1. Samuel Paty's sister Gaëlle Paty arriving for briefing after verdict announcement
2. SOUNDBITE (French) Gaëlle Paty, Samuel Paty's sister:
"I am moved, and I am relieved. Hearing the word ‘guilty’ - that’s what I needed. 'Guilty, guilty of complicity' - that is what I wanted to hear. 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."
3. Gaëlle Paty leaving
4. SOUNDBITE (French) Francis Szpiner, lawyer representing members of Samuel Paty's family:
"Without Mr (Brahim) Chnina, Samuel Paty would still be alive. Well, the sentence of 13 years of imprisonment, far higher than the prosecution's demands, rose to the occasion. It took into account his age, it took into account his past. It is a perfectly balanced verdict and we can only be pleased with it. The Republic has responded to the challenges that had been launched by Islamist terrorism."
5. Abdelhakim Sefrioui's defence team arriving
6. SOUNDBITE (French) Ouadie Elhamamouchi, defence lawyer for Abdelhakim Sefrioui:
"Today, Mr Sefrioui is a political prisoner. He is a political prisoner even though he has absolutely no connection with the terrorist, even though his video has never been seen by the terrorist and everyone is unanimous and was able to observe it during this hearing."
7. People outside courtroom
8. SOUNDBITE (French) Vincent Brengarth, defence lawyer for Abdelhakim Sefrioui:
"There's a condemnation of 15 years of criminal imprisonment concerning a person who didn't participate in any way in the assassination. And of course that in these conditions as it had been agreed from the start, we will appeal against this conviction."
9. Various of people outside courtroom
STORYLINE:
France’s anti-terrorism court on Friday convicted eight people of involvement in the beheading of teacher Samuel Paty outside his school near Paris four years ago, a horrific death that shocked the country.
Paty, 47, was killed by an Islamic extremist outside his school on October 16, 2020, days after showing his class cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad during a debate on free expression.
The assailant, an 18-year-old Russian of Chechen origin, was shot to death by police.
Those who have been on trial on terrorism charges at a special court in Paris since the end of November were accused, in some cases, of providing assistance to the perpetrator and, in others, of organizing a hate campaign online before the murder took place.
The 540-seat courtroom was packed for the verdict, which marked the final chapter of the Paty trial. Heavy surveillance was in place, with more than 50 police officers guarding the proceedings.
Seated in the front row was Samuel Paty’s 9-year-old son, accompanied by family members. As the lead judge delivered sentences one after the other, emotions in the room ran high.
“I am moved, and I am relieved,” said Gaëlle Paty, Samuel Paty’s sister, as she addressed a crowd of reporters after the verdict. “Hearing the word ‘guilty’ — that’s what I needed."
"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.
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