The investigation is progressing. After the assassination of Samuel Paty, seven people were indicted on Wednesday October 21 for “complicity in assassination in connection with a terrorist enterprise” and “terrorist criminal association with a view to committing crimes against people “. Five adults were remanded in custody, while two middle school students were released and placed under judicial supervision.

Sixteen people were initially taken into custody, but nine were later released, including family members of Abdullakh Anzorov, the perpetrator of the attack. The latter was shot dead by the police shortly after beheading the history and geography professor, but justice is looking for his possible accomplices.

A father of a student, author of a viral video

Brahim C. is a parent of a student at the Bois d’Aulne college. He helped launch the mobilization against the professor after a course on freedom of expression given by Samuel Paty on October 6, in his college in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine (Yvelines). He published “an account of the facts about the dissemination of an image of the naked prophet”, on October 7 in the evening on his Facebook account, calling for mobilization against the teacher to demand his exclusion, according to the anti-terrorism prosecutor, Jean-François Ricard.

He also posted a video that quickly went viral and gave Samuel Paty’s name and college address on social media. In the video, he deals with the teacher in particular “thug”. However, the investigation established that Brahim C.’s daughter was absent from the course in question. In addition, contrary to what he maintained on social networks, the exclusion of the schoolgirl for two days from her establishment was decided. “for separate facts” having nothing to do with this history-geography course, according to the prosecutor.

Anti-terrorism investigators are also interested in messages exchanged on WhatsApp between this father and the assailant, Abdoullakh Anzorov. The two men exchanged “several telephone and written contacts” between October 9 and 13, confirmed the prosecutor, without revealing the content of these exchanges. “My client never tried to contact the teacher, he never called to harm him. He did not know the assailant and is upset by what happened”, assured with France Télévisions Nabil El Ouchikli, the lawyer of Brahim C., Wednesday evening, before the indictment of his client for “complicity in assassination in connection with a terrorist enterprise”. Brahim C. has asked for time to prepare his defense, but has been jailed pending the adversarial debate concerning him, which will take place on Friday.

Islamist activist Abdelhakim Sefrioui

A figure of radical Islam, activist Abdelhakim Sefrioui he also indicted for “complicity in assassination in connection with a terrorist enterprise” and placed in pre-trial detention, for having accompanied Brahim C. in his mobilization. He went to the college to meet the principal, to complain about Samuel Paty. He then appeared in a video where he introduced himself as “member of the Council of Imams of France”. He declares that“Emmanuel Macron has stirred up hatred against Muslims” and that the teacher “is a thug”. Counter-terrorism prosecutor establishes “a direct causal link” between the actions of the student’s parent and Abdelhakim Sefrioui and the death of Samuel Paty.

Abdelhakim Sefrioui has been traveling the Paris region for more than fifteen years, organizing demonstrations, street prayers and actions in front of high schools. He is on file S. Born in 1959 in Fez, this Franco-Moroccan is married to a French woman and father of two children. He appeared in the media in the early 2000s. In 2004, he founded the pro-Palestinian collective Cheikh Yassine (named after the founder of Hamas, killed by the Israeli army in 2004), whose Council of Ministers announced the dissolution. . He was also part of Dieudonné’s campaign office in 2006, when he was considering a presidential candidacy.

The latter said to himself “stunned, devastated”, after his indictment, told Franceinfo the one who assures his defense and who wishes to remain anonymous.

Three other adults close to the terrorist

Two other people, Naïm B. and Azim E. were indicted for “complicity in murder in connection with a terrorist enterprise” and also placed in pre-trial detention. Yussuf C. was indicted for “terrorist association with a view to committing crimes against persons” and placed in pre-trial detention.

These three people are relatives of the terrorist suspected of having helped him. Two of them spontaneously surrendered to the Evreux police station on Friday evening, and “deny having had knowledge of their friend’s deadly plans”, according to the prosecutor. Azim E., 19 years old and longtime friend of Abdoullakh Anzorov, is suspected of having accompanied him the day before the events to a cutlery in Rouen to buy a knife. A weapon found near the body of the terrorist.

Naïm B., aged 18, said he had transported the terrorist near the college shortly before 2 p.m. on the day of the events. Earlier in the day, he had also accompanied him to a store in Osny (Val-d’Oise) to acquire two airsoft-type weapons, one of which will be found at the crime scene. He finally admitted to having also accompanied Abdullakh Anzorov to the cutlery.

Finally, a third close to the terrorist, Yussuf C., aged 18, is indicted because of “very close contacts” with Abdoullakh Anzorov, and “of the manifest sharing of their radical ideology”, in the words of the prosecutor.

Two minors suspected of having received money

The two minors aged 14 and 15 were also indicted for “complicity in murder in connection with a terrorist enterprise” and released under judicial supervision. They are suspected of having provided the terrorist, against money, with information on Samuel Paty, in front of their establishment, a few hours before the attacker took action. For a reward of 300 or 350 euros, they would have given him the physical description of Samel Paty. It was then other schoolchildren, in connection with them, who appointed the teacher when he left college, thus allowing Abdoullakh Anzorov to prosecute his victim.

According to the two college students indicted, the terrorist confided in them wanting “to run away the professor, to force him to ask forgiveness for the caricature of the prophet, to humiliate him, to strike him”, said the prosecutor.