The links between the various protagonists heard over the past few days, and some of whom risk indictment on Wednesday, are becoming more and more clear in the investigation into the Conflans-Sainte-Honorine attack.
During a press conference this Wednesday afternoon, the anti-terrorism prosecutor, Jean-François Ricard, indicated that seven people were brought to justice as part of these investigations entrusted to an examining magistrate for "complicity in 'terrorist assassination' and 'terrorist criminal association'.
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The magistrate revealed the roles attributed by the investigators to two middle school students arrested, aged 14 and 15, as well as to a parent of a student, Brahim C., to the Islamist activist Abdelhakim Sefrioui and to three relatives of Abdoullakh Anzorov, who beheaded Samuel Paty last Friday for his free speech class.
"Prosecuting young minors in a terrorist case is not something new but questions", underlined the prosecutor.
Here is what the investigation established concerning these different protagonists.
Two college students "gave a physical description of Samuel Paty" to the killer
The two college students are suspected of having appointed the teacher to the Chechen terrorist aged 18, in exchange for a sum of money, explained the magistrate.
“The investigation established that if the perpetrator had the teacher's surname, the name of the college and its location, he did not have the means to identify him,” he insisted.
This identification was only possible through the intervention of college students from the same establishment.
"
The assailant went to the Bois-d'Aulne college around 2 p.m. on Friday, October 16 and offered “300 or 350 euros” to a student, in exchange for information on Samuel Paty.
Other minors would then have joined the duo "shortly before 4 pm".
The prosecutor indicates that the terrorist "explained the object of his mission and offered to share the money" and adds that some of the college students preferred to slip away.
The student who received the money, as well as one of his comrades - both referred - "gave a physical description of Samuel Paty (to the killer)".
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According to Jean-François Ricard, “the latter would have declared to have intended to spin the professor, to force him to ask forgiveness for the caricature of the prophet, to humiliate him, to beat him.
Shortly before 5 pm, "several teenagers in connection with the first ones" pointed out to the killer the teacher while he was leaving college.
Samuel Paty was savagely mutilated soon after by the young Chechen.
Three relatives of Abdullakh Anzorov
These three men, also referred, told investigators to have noted a recent radicalization of the assailant, for several months, with, in the words of the magistrate, "a change in physical appearance, isolation, frequent attendance of the mosque" , or even "unequivocal remarks on Islamism".
The first of the protagonists, one of his longtime friends aged 19, "is suspected of having accompanied him the day before the facts for the purchase of a knife in Rouen", specifies the prosecutor.
This weapon was found near the terrorist after he was shot.
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Another of his relatives, aged 18 and from Évreux, admits having "conveyed" the terrorist to arms stores and "having deposited Anzorov near the college" on Friday.
The two young men spontaneously presented themselves to the police and "deny having had knowledge of their friend's deadly plans".
A third man, aged 18 and also close to the killer, is accused of "very close contacts and manifest sharing of their radical ideology", according to the magistrate.
Brahim C., Abdelhakim Sefrioui and their "reinterpretation of the facts"
Jean-François Ricard detailed the chronology of the facts, since Brahim C., parent of a student of Samuel Paty, as well as the radical pro-Islam activist Abdelhakim Sefrioui, also referred, broadcast videos designating him and criticizing his course during which were presented caricatures of Muhammad.
"Their deferments are part of the analysis of a direct causal link between their actions and the death of Samuel Paty," said the prosecutor.
On October 5 and 6, the teacher gave a civic education course, which the two men blame him for.
"It is now clear that the professor has been specifically designated as a target on social networks by the two men by means of maneuvers and a reinterpretation of the facts", estimated the magistrate, stressing that the daughter of Brahim C - did not attend any of the two courses given, being absent at that time from college "for illness".
He summarizes: “The investigation has shown that the controversy triggered by Brahim C. was based on factually inaccurate facts.
"
The latter assured that his daughter had attended this course, and published, as of October 7, several messages and videos on Facebook criticizing the role of the teacher.
“He called for the mobilization and exclusion of Mr. Paty and left his own contact details.
He also named the professor and disclosed the college's address, before removing those details.
Some “Brahim C. correspondents have made threatening remarks” against Samuel Paty.
"Telephone and written contacts" between Brahim C. and the assailant
It was at this stage that Abdelhakim Sefrioui, an activist on file S, took up the subject and also broadcast on October 11 a video in which Brahim C. and his daughter intervened.
"The teacher was designated by the two men as a
thug teacher who responded to the president's call to hate Muslims
", explains the prosecutor, describing "victim rhetoric assumed".
The terrorist consulted these contents, confirmed Jean-François Ricard, revealing that "Abdoullakh Anzorov was directly inspired by the messages diffused by Brahim C, taking again in a note of his telephone the location of the college and the name of the professor".
During his police custody, Brahim C. for his part admitted having been contacted by Abdelhakim Sefraoui on October 7, “although they had known each other for a month.
They had about fifty contacts between September 25 and October 16.
"He refuted any desire for violence against the teacher and explained that he had received messages of support from various individuals including Abdoullakh Anzorov, whom he did not specifically remember", according to Jean-François Ricard.
Several "telephone and written contacts" were also unearthed between Brahim C. and the assailant, between October 9 and 13.
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For his part, in police custody, Abdelhakim Sefraoui, 61, described as being "part of the Islamist movement", proclaimed that he was only considering "a citizen reaction and an administrative sanction against Mr. Paty, which he considered that the behavior consisting in distinguishing Muslim students as being serious, ”assured the magistrate.
The indictment of these seven protagonists should be pronounced this Wednesday.
