A teacher targeted after a lesson
Samuel Paty taught history, geography and civic education at the Collège du Bois-d'Aulne in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine. In October 2020, during a lesson about freedom of expression, he discussed caricatures that had become a subject of national controversy. A student who had not attended the lesson later made false claims about what had occurred.
Those claims were amplified online by the student's father, Brahim Chnina, and Abdelhakim Sefrioui. The campaign publicly identified Paty and his school and generated intense hostility toward him. Courts later had to decide how far that campaign, and the actions of people closer to the eventual attacker, created criminal responsibility for what followed.
The murder
On October 16, 2020, 18-year-old Abdoullakh Anzorov traveled to the area around Paty's school and attacked the teacher after classes. Police encountered Anzorov shortly afterward and shot him dead during the response.
The perpetrator's death meant there would be no trial of the killer himself. The criminal proceedings instead focused on people accused of helping him obtain equipment or transport, and on people accused of building the online campaign that placed Paty in danger.
Separate juvenile proceedings
Before the principal adult trial, several adolescents were prosecuted in juvenile court for conduct connected to the case. Their legal responsibility was distinct from the later adult defendants, and the proceedings did not treat every participant as having the same knowledge or intent.
This distinction is important because the later adult trials repeatedly turned on what each defendant actually knew about Anzorov's radicalization and plans, rather than on guilt by association.
The 2024 adult trial
In December 2024, a special anti-terrorism court in Paris convicted eight adult defendants whose roles ranged from the online campaign to practical assistance provided to Anzorov. Sentences ranged from one to sixteen years.
The most severe first-instance sentences went to two friends of Anzorov, Naïm Boudaoud and Azim Epsirkhanov, who received sixteen years for complicity in terrorist murder. Brahim Chnina received thirteen years and Abdelhakim Sefrioui fifteen years for terrorist criminal conspiracy. Four of the eight convicted defendants later appealed.
The 2026 appeal changed part of the legal picture
On March 2, 2026, the Paris special criminal court of appeal delivered a new verdict for Boudaoud, Epsirkhanov, Chnina and Sefrioui. The court concluded that Boudaoud and Epsirkhanov had not known Anzorov's terrorist intentions or radicalization. Their terrorist convictions were therefore replaced with ordinary criminal-conspiracy convictions, carrying six and seven years respectively.
Chnina and Sefrioui remained convicted of terrorist criminal conspiracy for the campaign against Paty. Chnina's sentence was reduced to ten years; Sefrioui's fifteen-year sentence was maintained.
A cassation appeal remained
On March 4, 2026, lawyers for Abdelhakim Sefrioui filed an appeal in cassation challenging aspects of the appeal proceedings and the legal basis of his conviction. That filing did not erase the appeal-court judgment, but it meant the procedural history was not completely finished as of the latest reliable material reviewed for this page.
The page therefore treats the murder itself as solved and the principal surrounding prosecutions as extensively adjudicated, while avoiding the inaccurate claim that every defendant's appellate route was completely exhausted.
Timeline
Early October 2020: Paty teaches a lesson on freedom of expression; false claims about the lesson begin circulating.
October 16, 2020: Samuel Paty is murdered near his school. Abdoullakh Anzorov is killed during the police response.
2023: juvenile proceedings produce convictions for several adolescents involved at different stages of the case.
December 20, 2024: eight adult defendants are convicted and receive prison terms ranging from one to sixteen years.
March 2, 2026: four defendants are retried on appeal; two terrorist convictions are reduced to ordinary conspiracy, while Chnina and Sefrioui remain convicted of terrorist conspiracy.
March 4, 2026: Sefrioui's defense files an appeal in cassation.
Current status
Samuel Paty's killer is identified and died during the police response. The broader criminal case produced multiple convictions in juvenile and adult proceedings. The March 2026 appeal substantially changed the legal classification and sentences of two defendants while maintaining the terrorist-conspiracy convictions of Chnina and Sefrioui. At the latest verified point, Sefrioui had filed a cassation appeal, so his appellate process should not be described as fully exhausted.