Accomplice in Samuel Paty case sentenced for breaching residence restriction
Azim Epsirkhanov, 25, has been sentenced to one year in prison for travelling to Parc Astérix in violation of his house arrest. He supplied the knife used to behead Samuel Paty.
One year in prison for supplier of knife used in Samuel Paty's murder
Azim Epsirkhanov, 25, was sentenced on Monday, 31 August to one year in prison by the Senlis court, according to TF1 Info. The Chechen national had supplied the knife used by Abdoullakh Anzorov to behead schoolteacher Samuel Paty on 16 October 2020. He was appearing this time for breach of his house arrest order.
The defendant was stopped on Friday at around 15:30 in the car park at Parc Astérix in Plailly, in the Oise department. His house arrest order required him to remain at his partner's residence in Hauts-de-Seine, pending his expulsion from French territory. He was also required to report twice daily at the police station of his place of residence.
At the immediate appearance hearing, Epsirkhanov cited misunderstanding. "There was a misreading on my part," he declared, claiming he had not understood that he was forbidden from leaving the Hauts-de-Seine department. "I never sought to evade this measure," he insisted, adding that he aspired "to resume family and professional life".
The prosecution contested this account. The deputy prosecutor stated that the defendant had left Hauts-de-Seine on eight occasions, "including at night". He also questioned the motives for his presence at the theme park, given his criminal record. "What concerns us, given the defendant's character, is knowing what he could possibly have been doing at Parc Astérix," he stated at the hearing.
His lawyer, Maître Figen Aydin, regretted that the case had not been treated "like any other case of breach of residence restriction". Epsirkhanov has consistently denied being aware of Anzorov's murderous plans against Samuel Paty.
Sentenced at first instance in 2024 to 16 years in prison for complicity in terrorist murder, his sentence was reduced and reclassified on appeal in March 2026 to 7 years for criminal conspiracy. Released in April 2026, he had filed an appeal with the administrative court to contest his obligation to leave French territory. "Chechens are the first to be sent to the front in Ukraine," he argued. "Returning there would be a one-way trip to death."
Source: TF1 Info