Why Samuel Paty's family filed a complaint against the State

• On October 16, 2020, Samuel Paty, a history and geography teacher at a college in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, was assassinated by a jihadist for showing caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad to his students during a course on freedom of movement. 'expression.

• In early April 2022, ten members of the teacher's family filed a complaint for "non-assistance to person in danger and non-impediment of crime".

• The teacher's family criticizes the administration, in particular the Ministries of the Interior and National Education, for not having protected him.

Is the State partly responsible for the death of Samuel Paty, murdered on October 16, 2020 near the college where he taught, in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine (Yvelines)?

This is what the investigation opened on April 19 for "non-assistance to person in danger" and "non-prevention of crime" and entrusted to the Brigade for the Repression of Delinquency to Persons (BRDP) will have to try to determine. , said the Paris prosecutor's office at

this Thursday.

The history and geography teacher had been stabbed and then beheaded by Abdoullakh Anzorov, an 18-year-old Chechen, after showing caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad to his students during a lesson on freedom of expression.

Why was an investigation opened?

The opening of the investigation follows the complaint filed on April 6 by ten members of Samuel Paty's family.

They call into question the direct responsibility of the Ministries of the Interior and National Education, judging the administrations at fault for not having protected it.

“I have always been firmly convinced that this attack could have been avoided.

Today, concrete elements confirm this conviction.

Mistakes were committed both on the side of National Education and on the side of the Ministry of the Interior, without which Samuel Paty could have been saved, ”declared to AFP in April Me Virginie Le Roy, the lawyer for the parents and sisters of the teacher.

On the other hand, the former companion and the son of Samuel Paty are not part of the plaintiffs, had informed their lawyer, Me Francis Szpiner: “The former companion and mother of the son of Samuel Paty learned with surprise the filing of a complaint against X for 'non-prevention of crime'proceeding which she does not intend to join”, he wrote on Twitter on the same day, April 6.

The former companion and mother of the son of Samuel Paty learned with surprise the filing of a complaint against X for "non-prevention of crime" procedure in which she does not intend to join.

1/2 #samuelpaty

— Francis Szpiner (@fszpiner) April 6, 2022

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"She considers that Salafist ideology is solely responsible for the death of Samuel Paty and that the state has always supported him and his son," he added.

2/2 She considers that only Salafist ideology is responsible for the death of #SamuelPaty and that the State has always supported her and her son.

— Francis Szpiner (@fszpiner) April 6, 2022

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Who is the subject of this complaint?

In its complaint, the family implicates "several agents of the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of National Education" who knew, directly or indirectly, the situation of Samuel Paty.

These include territorial intelligence agents from Yvelines, the DGSI - internal intelligence -, as well as several agents from National Education, the rectorate, departmental services or the Bois d'Aulne college in Conflans- Sant-Honorine, where he taught.

One of the legal issues will be whether these agents could have been aware of the existence of a real, targeted and immediate threat aimed at the professor.

The family believes that "from October 8 and until the 16th [the day of his death], Samuel Paty, the principal and the teachers identified a serious threat to their physical integrity and the security of the college", after several messages posted on social media, specifically targeting the teacher.

But this “fatwa against the professor”, as the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, had described it, three days after the assassination, did not have a response to the height, they believe.

For the family, “the agents of the Ministry of the Interior failed” because Samuel Paty “should have benefited from at least the weakest protection”, one or two agents, which “would have saved him”.

Why is the complaint aimed at National Education officials?

In their complaint, the family recalls the slow process that began with the course on freedom of expression given by Samuel Paty to his students on October 5, 2020. That day, the teacher presented his class with some caricatures of Muhammad , originally published in a Danish newspaper and republished by

in 2006. In order not to shock Muslim students, he suggests that they close their eyes, look away or go out for a few moments.

But this course triggers the anger of some parents of students, who post messages on social networks demanding his dismissal, even publishing the name of the teacher and that of the establishment.

Other messages, posted anonymously, physically threaten the professor.

Our file on Samuel Paty

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Worried, the principal of the college sends the information back to the Deputy Academic Director of the National Education Services (Daasen).

"However, and without correcting the situation the following days, the Daasen minimizes the security risk"

explained Virginie Le Roy to our colleagues from

last April.

The ministry's only response: the sending of a “secularism referent” twice to the college.

An unsuitable response according to the family of Samuel Paty, who deplores the absence of a mobile security team at the college: “Why not have alerted the competent actors more quickly in security matters?

Why did you never ask for the protection or removal of Samuel Paty?

“Asks the lawyer, recalling that the professor and the principal of the college had both filed a complaint for physical threats against the professor shortly before the tragedy.

What does the family accuse of the intelligence services?

The other person responsible, according to the teacher's family, would therefore be internal intelligence.

On October 12, 2020, four days before the assassination, the rectorate's security adviser warned Yvelines territorial intelligence (SDRT78) of the publication on the networks of two videos targeting Samuel Paty.

One is broadcast by Brahim Chnina, the father of one of his students, and calls for action against the teacher.

The other is signed Abdelhakim Sefrioui, an Islamist militant known to intelligence, as

in his investigation.

In the middle of the trial of the January 2015 attacks, and while the terrorist threat is very high, the SDRT78 considers that it is more a disturbance of public order than a threat of an attack.

An “incomprehensible” posture for the family of Samuel Paty, according to his lawyer.

Another breach for the family: in July 2020, the Twitter account of Abdoullakh Anzorov, the 18-year-old of Chechen origin who stabbed and beheaded Samuel Paty, was reported on the Pharos platform.

And as the order requires, the report is sent to the Counter-Terrorism Coordination Unit, within the DGSI.

But no action is taken.

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