Imam Hassen Chalghoumi, heard on Tuesday, February 17 by the special assize court of Paris in the appeal trial of the assassination of Professor Samuel Paty, was hospitalized after feeling unwell, without being able to finish his testimony.
This opponent of Islamic fundamentalism, whose representativeness is often disputed in the Muslim community, had previously given a very harsh testimony against one of the four defendants, Abdelhakim Sefrioui.
This Islamist militant is on trial for having been with a student’s father, Brahim Chnina, the architect of a hate campaign against the history and geography teacher before his murder.
A young Chechen Islamist, Abdelhakim Anzorov, beheaded Samuel Paty on October 16, 2020 in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine (Yvelines) for showing caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed during a class on freedom of expression. He was then shot dead by the police whom he threatened.
“Evacuated” to a hospital
On Tuesday, after the questions of the public prosecutor’s office to Hassen Chalghoumi but before those of the defense, a break was decided. After a long interruption, the president explained that Hassen Chalghoumi would have to “be evacuated” to a hospital in the Paris region. In order to respect the adversarial principle, the president of the court planned to ask Hassen Chalghoumi to finish his interrogation on Friday.
My client felt unwell. However, he remains at the court’s disposal to answer the parties’ questions on February 20,” his lawyer Samia Maktouf told AFP.
In a sometimes confused testimony, Hassen Chalghoumi had evoked the demonstrations in 2010 in front of his mosque in Drancy to denounce his positions, particularly on the issue of the veil, organized by the Cheikh Yassine Collective, Abdelhakim Sefrioui’s association.
Hassen Chalghoumi spoke of “death threats” against him, “propaganda on social media”. He described Abdelhakim Sefrioui as “one of the most dangerous men in France”, “manipulative in the face of fragile and sensitive people”.
Defendant’s defense asks for video to be added to proceedings
At the end of his testimony and before the break, Abdelhakim Sefrioui’s defence had asked for the video of a sermon by Hassen Chalghoumi where, according to them, he had shown “another face”, making radical remarks. “It may have been this document that may have caused Hassen Chalghoumi’s discomfort and inconvenience,” said Ouadie Elhamamouchi.
However, the president refused to include this video in the proceedings, as the defence was unable to specify the source and date.
Alongside Abdelhakim Sefrioui and Brahim Chnina, who are on trial for terrorist criminal association, two friends of Anzorov are charged with complicity in murder, which they also dispute.
