In the months following the murder of Samuel Paty committed by the jihadist Abdullakh Anzorov, his father had frequently spoken out in the French media. According to Le Parisien, he expressed regret and emphasised his love for France. However, this statement changed in June 2021 during an interview with a Chechen influencer. At the time, he declared that he was “satisfied” with the attack committed by his son: “He went to defend the honour of all Chechens and all Muslims in the world.”
“I brought Adbullakh up like this: You must love Allah more than your own parents,” he also said, claiming that his son had received “a religious upbringing, as is customary in the Chechen tradition”. Today, the man still works in France as a private security guard. According to Le Parisien, he still holds a professional card issued by the Conseil national des activités privées de sécurité (Cnaps). It was even renewed for five years in 2019. This card, explains the daily from the Paris region, allows him to carry out surveillance or security services anywhere in France.
A wrong decision, as the Chechen family man’s statements can be equated with the glorification of terrorism. “The prefect and director of the Cnap, Cyrille Maillet, explains: “We cannot be accused of anything, we look at the police files and this gentleman has no criminal record. Since the family man’s criminal record is clean, there is no reason to revoke his professional card. He also assures that the seriousness of his team cannot be questioned, as the Cnaps had twice (in April and September 2020, a few weeks before the attack) refused to issue a similar card to the young terrorist – who already had a criminal record before committing his crime.
A categorical refusal that did not, however, stop Abdullakh Anzorov from continuing to work in the security sector. According to Le Parisien, the Cnaps has identified around 30 companies with contacts to the Anzorov family. Some of them are even said to have offered to house or train the young terrorist, although the Cnaps did not want to issue him a professional card – without any consequences for them.
“Since the murder and despite the discovery of this network of companies linked to the murderer of Samuel Paty, the management has told us that this is a too sensitive issue,” a controller of the Cnap, who remains anonymous, told the daily. According to him, several requests for investigations were turned down. “We don’t know what will become of them or what will happen there”.Nothing that worries Cyrille Maillet: “There was a judicial request, we gave all this information to the judiciary and we give them priority. That is the reality of a state under the rule of law”.