Chechen beheads school teacher in France over Charlie Hebdo caricatures

A Moscow native of Chechen origin was shot dead after he beheaded a school teacher in Conflans-Saint-Honorine, France, the police have reported. The assassinated teacher had shown caricatures of Prophet Muhammad from the Charlie Hebdo magazine to his pupils.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the Charlie Hebdo magazine had several times published caricatures on Islam and personally on Prophet Muhammad, for which it was criticized by Muslims.

The murder of the 47-year-old teacher in Conflans-Saint-Honorine occurred in the afternoon on October 16 near the school where the man had worked. Investigators associate the murder with the teacher's professional and personal position – during a lesson on the freedom of expression, he showed caricatures on Prophet Muhammad from Charlie Hebdo to his pupils; and parents of Muslim pupils did not like it.

The attacker was armed with a knife and tried to escape when policemen arrived at the venue. They asked him to surrender, but the man rushed at them and was shot dead. The investigation was entrusted to the antiterrorist prosecutor's office, since the murder of a teacher was qualified as a terrorist crime.

The attacker has been identified as an 18-year-old young man of Chechen origin. He was born in Moscow; shortly before the attack he shouted "Allahu Akbar", the BFMTV reports.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on October 16, 2020 at 11:35 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.