One of the sons of Islamist activist Abdelhakim Sefrioui, in police custody since Saturday morning in the investigation into the assassination of Professor Samuel Paty, has been released. He is not being prosecuted at this stage.
His police custody, carried out at the anti-terrorist sub-directorate (Sdat) of the judicial police, aimed in particular to find out whether he had participated in the filming of the video in which his father calls Samuel Paty a “thug” and designates him, according to the prosecution, as a “target” on social networks, said a source close to the case. Investigators were particularly looking to find out if he had helped his father film, edit and broadcast the video, according to a second source familiar with the matter.
A “scandalous” police custody according to his advice
Son Sefrioui denied any involvement in the making of this video, according to the first source. “He had no participation at any stage of the preparation for the assassination of Mr. Paty, it’s been eighteen months of investigation that everyone knows it”, annoyed his lawyer, Me Antoine Alexiev . The latter denounced “ninety-six hours of scandalous police custody” for his client who “has nothing to do with a jihadist”.
On October 16, 2020, history and geography professor Samuel Paty, 47, was stabbed and then beheaded near his college in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine (Yvelines) by Abdoullakh Anzorov, a Russian refugee of Chechen origin, killed shortly afterwards by the police. The 18-year-old man, radicalized, accused him of having shown caricatures of Muhammad in class.
In an audio message in Russian, he claimed responsibility for his action, congratulating himself on having “avenge the prophet”. He had learned of the controversy around the cartoons via an internet video made by Brahim Chnina, father of a schoolgirl targeted by an exclusion for indiscipline.
At least 15 indictments
At least fifteen people are indicted in this case, including six college students, the teenager’s father and Abdelhakim Sefrioui. The former rector of the Pantin mosque, M’hammed Henniche, was also taken into custody at the Sdat last week and released without charge, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
The Pantin mosque, implicated for having relayed the video of Brahim Chnina on its Facebook page, had been closed for nearly six months by the authorities. It had reopened after the departure of M’hammed Henniche.