Director of "Charlie Hebdo" calls for freedom of expression

Two years after the terrorist attack on the headquarters of the satirical newspaper, head of the publication says that journalists will not give up their passion. The head of the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, Laurent Sourisseau, known as Riss, claimed on Saturday (07/01) the right of publication to freedom of expression despite the terrorist threat, Two years after the jihadist attack that left 12 dead at its headquarters in Paris. "We will not let go of our passion, let our lives not be dictated by this violence," he said in an interview with RTL. Riss, shot during the Jan. 7, 2015, attack and replacing the late Charb as a director, finds the strong police surveillance surrounding him since "a necessary evil." The newspaper released a special issue last Wednesday in which it emphasized that the assassination attempt was a "political crime". "Those who were murdered were committed personalities who defended precise ideas, particular forms of expression, such as satirical illustrations." The cartoonist commented that January 7 became a symbolic date: "Every day is a little bit January 7th. We have it in our memory and it's hard to forget. "Last Thursday, an official tribute - led by the mayor of the French capital, Anne Hidalgo - was held to the victims of Charlie Hebdo, as well as the attacks on a Jewish market In two days after the death of three people, the brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi, Islamist fundamentalists, invaded the newspaper's editorial staff and shot the publication's staff, in addition to Charb, the cartoonists Cabu, Wolinski and After the attack, the slogan "Je suis Charlie" has been turned around the world. The newspaper was long considered a possible target for Islamic extremists for publishing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.