President of the European Parliament David Sassoli led a minute of silence to pay tribute to murdered teacher Samuel Paty and all victims of terrorism, at the opening of the session.
Expressing his condolences to the family of Samuel Paty, a history and geography teacher brutally murdered by an Islamist terrorist in France on Friday, October 16, Sassoli paid tribute to all those who work to uphold freedom of expression.

“Deeply shocked by the appalling attack by #ConflansSainteHonorine. We stand alongside our French friends and the victim’s family. Hate and violence, terrorism and extremism will never overcome freedom and democracy” wrote on his Twitter micro blog the head of the EU diplomacy Josep Borrell.

French minister of Interior Gérarld Darmanin said a fatwa appeared to have been issued against Samuel Paty, a 47-year-old teacher of history and geography who was decapitated on October 16 outside the school in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, a community in 30 km from the capital.

As part of a course on freedom of expression this month, as the previous years, Paty had shown pupils the caricatures including two of the prophet Muhammad published by the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, that was the target of a 2015 Islamist attack.

Police shot dead Paty’s attacker, an 18-year-old of Chechen origin named as Abdullakh Anzorov.

A photo of the teacher’s decapitated head was posted to Twitter from Anzorov’s mobile phone, along with the message: “I have executed one of the dogs from hell who dared to put Muhammad down.” At present 15 people related to the terrorist act of beheading of the teacher are arrested.