The Muslim father who allegedly organised an online hate campaign against a French schoolteacher before he was beheaded on the street outside his school said ‘I regret it went badly’.
Brahim Chnina, a 52-year-old Moroccan national, faces 30 years in prison if found guilty of playing a part in the murder of Samuel Paty, 47.
Mr Paty was killed outside his school in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, west of Paris, on October 16, 2020, by Abdoullakh Anzorov, an 18-year-old Chechen migrant to France.
Anzorov had seen pictures and videos claiming Mr Paty was promoting cartoons by the satirical Charlie Hebdo magazine that mocked the Prophet Mohammed. He was shot dead by police minutes after the attack.
Chnina is alleged to have organised a campaign of cyberbulling after his 13-year-old daughter falsely claimed that she has been in one of Mr Paty’s classes, and that Muslim pupils were asked to leave before the cartoons were shown.
Cross-examined during his trial for terrorist criminal association at a special court in the Palais de Justice in central Paris on Monday, Chnina said: ‘For my part, I regret infinitely what I did.
‘I regret it very much. I am not a terrorist and I am not part of a terrorist criminal association. It is true that I made a video and I regret that it went badly.’
Defendant Brahim Chnina sitting during the trial of eight adults charged with contributing to the climate of hatred that led to an 18-year-old Islamist radical in the 2020 beheading teacher Samuel Paty, on November 4
History and geography teacher Samuel Paty, 47, was decapitated outside a school near Paris
Chnina is alleged to have organised a campaign of cyberbulling after his 13-year-old daughter falsely claimed that she has been in one of Mr Paty’s classes
Paty was violently stabbed to death and then decapitated by 18-year-old Chechen refugee Abdoullakh Anzorov on October 16, 2020
The trial of eight people accused of encouraging Anzorov began last month. The court will hear how a schoolgirl’s lie spiralled out of control on social media, sparking an international hate campaign that led to Mr Paty’s brutal killing.
Two of those on trial are accused of calling Mr Paty a ‘blasphemer’ over the internet.
Two also allegedly gave Anzorov logistical help, and four others allegedly offered help on chatlines.
Insisting that he was not an extremist, Chnina said today: ‘I am not a radical. My practice of religion is like that of all Muslims in France. I try to pray every day. My children have the choice to pray or not.’
Chnina, who has been in prison on remand for the past four years, admitted telling people that Mr Paty had ‘bragged’ about supporting Charlie Hebdo.
Ten people from the magazine, including four cartoonists, were murdered by Al Qaeda terrorists in Paris in January 2015.
‘Unfortunately, I relayed the message that my daughter told me,’ said Chnina.
‘I understood that Mr Paty wanted all the students to support Charlie.’
Chnina’s daughter cannot be fully identified for legal reasons, and is being referred to in court by the pseudonym of Zhora.
Last week, Zhora admitted lying and apologised to Mr Paty’s family, saying: ‘I’m sorry for destroying your life’.
The schoolgirl was last year given an 18-month suspended sentence for the slanderous allegations she made against Mr Paty.
Asked what his relationship was with his daughter, Chnina said: ‘Like any father with his children. I have a boy and six girls. They are all in my heart. She didn’t have any particular problems.
‘I know that children can lie, but there were never any real problems.’
Recalling events leading up to the attack on Mr Paty, Chnina said: ‘My daughter told me about the discrimination, the caricatures. I learned that she had been kicked out of class.
‘I was stupid and silly to post on social media. I just wanted to defend my daughter. I don’t know what came over me to post that on social media.’
‘It’s the first time I talked about my daughter on social media. I made a first message, a second, without putting the contact details of Mr Paty or the school. ‘Someone called me to get the contact details of the teacher and the school. I made the unforgivable mistake of giving the contact details of the teacher and the school.’
Chnina admitted saying that Mr Paty was a ‘a thug’ and ‘sick’.
This court sketch made and published on November 4, 2024, shows (L-R) defendants Brahim Chnina, Nabil Boudaoud and Ismael Gamaev sitting during the trial
Hundreds of people gather on Republique square during a demonstration Sunday Oct. 18, 2020 in Paris in support of freedom of speech and to pay tribute to a French history teacher who was beheaded near Paris
People stand in front of flowers and candles next to a placard reading ‘I am a teacher, I am Samuel’ at the entrance of a middle school in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, 30kms northwest of Paris, on October 17, 2020, after Paty was decapitated
(L-R) defendants Abdelhakim Sefrioui, Louqmane Ingar, Azim Epsirkhanov, Priscilla Mangel, Yusuf Cinar, Brahim Chnina, Nabil Boudaoud and Ismael Gamaev sitting during the trial
Phone records prove that Anzorov, Mr Paty’s killer, was in regular phone contact with Chnina, and travelled 60 miles to murder his victim before he was himself shot dead by police.
Chnina is on trial with six other defendants including Abdelhakim Sefrioui, a 65-year-old Franco-Moroccan Islamist activist.
Both are said to have spread Zhora’s lies on social networks with the aim, according to the prosecution, of ‘designating a target’, and ‘provoking a feeling of hatred’.
Both defendants insist they were seeking ‘administrative sanctions’ against Paty, not violence.
Mr Paty has been hailed by the current French administration as a free-speech hero.
He had shown the Charlie Hebdo caricatures to students as part of an ethics class about the 2015 terror attack on the magazine’s offices, in which two police officers were also murdered.
Seven men and one woman are appearing at the Special Assize Court in Paris, in a trial due to last until December 20.
