Accomplice in Samuel Paty's murder arrested at Parc Astérix, his sister angry
Azim Epsirkhanov, 25, linked to Samuel Paty's killer, was stopped at Parc Astérix in breach of his house arrest. Sentenced to one year in prison, he also faces expulsion.
Close associate of Samuel Paty's killer arrested at Parc Astérix, his sister responds
Azim Epsirkhanov, a 25-year-old Chechen involved in the assassination of teacher Samuel Paty, was arrested last Friday in the car park of Parc Astérix in Plailly, in the Oise, according to Le Figaro. The individual was present in direct violation of his house arrest, while he is also subject to an obligation to leave French territory (OQTF).
On Monday, the Senlis court sentenced him to one year in prison for this breach. Epsirkhanov had previously been sentenced in March to seven years in prison for criminal association in connection with the Paty case, without the terrorist nature of the act being established.
The reaction from the family of the murdered teacher was not long in coming. "It is very shocking. He continues to enjoy life and take pleasure in things while my brother can no longer do so. It is this image that is being conveyed," declared Mickaëlle Paty, one of Samuel Paty's two sisters, to Le Figaro. She condemns an individual who "mocks French law".
Samuel Paty was beheaded on 16 October 2020 by Islamist terrorist Abdoullakh Anzorov. The history and geography teacher had shown his pupils caricatures of Muhammad published in Charlie Hebdo during a lesson on freedom of expression, offering pupils who wished to do so to leave the classroom.
Epsirkhanov, as an associate of the killer, was tried for the first time in 2024 before the seven-year sentence was handed down on appeal in March. He remains subject to an OQTF pending his expulsion from French territory.
Source: Le Figaro