Teacher Beheading: The Paris Appeals Court Reduces Accomplices’ Prison Sentences
3rd March 2026
On Monday, March 2nd a French appeals court reduced the prison sentences of three men convicted in connection with the 2020 jihadist beheading of a teacher who had shown his class cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
As they do.
Two friends of the attacker, French national Naim Boudaoud and Azim Epsirkhanov, a Russian of Chechen origin, had their 16-year sentences reduced to six and seven years, respectively. Both were accused of driving the killer and helping him procure weapons before beheading Samuel Paty. Meanwhile, Brahim Chnina, a Moroccan father involved in the case, saw his 13-year sentence reduced to 10 years.
Can’t have all that Islamophobia, after all.
In Texas, accessory to first-degree murder gets you life without parole. In France … not so much.