Just as Ali Raza Polet, the alleged mastermind of the 2015 Paris attacks saw the face of a trial hearing in the French capital, another act of terrorism shook the country.

According to Le Parisien newspaper, an 18-year-old Chechen man with a knife beheaded a professor who taught caricatures in a school. Although, as per AP reports, the suspected attacker was shot dead about 600 metres from the scene, the clouds with freedom of expression written on them have turned dull in France.

Samuel Paty, 47, was seen showing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed to pupils in class was a history and geography professor at the Conflans-Sainte-Honorine outside Paris. He was a staunch preacher of freedom of expression. The victim on his way home was attacked on Friday afternoon.

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The French presidency has announced a day of national homage for Samuel Paty as his colleagues and students spoke about his skills.

Alleged perpetrator Abdullakh A., Russian by birth, had been granted refugee status in France and received a 10-year residency permit earlier this year, anti-terror prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard said.

“He was not known to the intelligence services and had no convictions but had been in trouble for inflicting damage on public property and violence while still a minor.”

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“A message claiming the attack with a gruesome accompanying photo was published on a Twitter account confirmed to have belonged to Abdullakh A,” Ricard added.

The prosecutor while elaborating on Abdullakh’s background mentioned that a father of one of the pupils at the school had embarked on a campaign to have the teacher dismissed when he found out about the cartoons.

“He spoke to the head of the school and published calls on social media attacking the teacher and insisting it is time to “say stop” to such behaviour.”

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The initial evidence suggested that Abdullakh A. had been loitering outside the school on Friday afternoon asking the pupils about Paty’s whereabouts.

Ricard said the half-sister of the father had joined Islamic State (IS) jihadists in Syria in 2014 and is already the subject of an arrest warrant. Another man who took part in videos posted by the father calling for the dismissal of the teacher has also been detained, along with his wife.

Four of the suspect’s relatives, his younger brother, grandfather and parents were also detained for questioning.