They completely denied the facts with which they are accused. The first of the eight defendants heard on Tuesday by the Paris Special Assize Court, at the trial for the assassination of Samuel Paty, all contested their participation.
“I contest the facts with which I am accused,” said Azim Epsirkhanov, 23, a young Russian of Chechen origin. “I have been contesting them for four years,” also said Naïm Boudaoud, 22 years old. The two young people, friends of the killer Abdoullakh Anzorov, are the only two accused prosecuted for complicity in murder, a crime punishable by life imprisonment.
The six other defendants are being prosecuted for participation in a terrorist criminal association, a crime punishable by 30 years in prison. The only woman among these defendants, Priscilla Mangel, 36, who appeared free, also strongly contested the accusations against her. “I deny having had the slightest influence on Anzorov,” she said on the stand.
Suspicious links
The prosecution accuses him in particular of having had numerous exchanges with the assassin of Samuel Paty on the Twitter network. In particular, she allegedly presented the teacher’s course to Anzorov as “an illustration of the war waged by republican institutions against Muslims.” Priscilla Mangel, who converted to Islam at the age of 16, says she unreservedly condemns terrorism.
However, her career mentioned by the court can raise doubts, “religiously married” to a man sentenced to 14 years of criminal imprisonment for terrorist association. “He’s a generous man, very outgoing,” she maintains, talking about “future plans” with him. She says she trusts him. “He has always proclaimed his innocence,” replies the accused.
Asked about her links with the mother of one of the attackers at the Bataclan on November 13, 2015, Priscilla Mangel explains that this woman, since convicted by the courts for financing terrorism, is “a good person who is not responsible for the act of his children.
Friends who knew nothing about the project
“France is my second country,” says Azim Epsirkhanov, who arrived in France with his family at the age of 10. “It’s a mother country for me,” insists the young Russian. It was in a college in Evreux that Azim Epsirkhanov met Abdoullakh Anzorov, a Chechen like him, for the first time.
Our file on the assassination of Samuel Paty
Epsirkhanov accompanied Anzorov to a cutlery in Rouen the day before the attack. “He told me that (the knife) was a gift for his grandfather,” explains the young man.
The trip to Rouen was made with Naïm Boudaoud, a native of Evreux and friend of Azim Epsirkhanov. Between Epsirkhanov, a strong 1.84 m tall, and Boudaoud, it was a relationship of big brother and little brother. One protecting the other and Boudaoud, from a rather privileged background, providing services to his friend. “It was give and take: Epsirkhanov protected him and he helped him in his precariousness,” explains a personality investigator.
