Stéphane Charbonnier had been editor of Charlie Hebdo since 2009 and led the paper's charge against the taboo of depicting the prophet Muhammad, in the name of freedom of expression. He had been under police protection since November 2011, when the weekly published a special edition mocking the prophet and Islam, and a firebomb attack destroyed the paper's offices.
Originally from Conflans Sainte-Honorine, a suburb northwest of Paris, he was a well-known cartoonist who previously worked for the Franco-Belgian comic magazines L'Écho des Savanes and Fluide Glacial, as well as the communist daily l'Humanité. In 2012, following a further controversy over the magazine's depiction of Muhammad, Charbonnier told the avant-garde magazine TelQuel: "I prefer to die standing rather than live on my knees."
Jean Cabut, aka Cabu (75)
One of France’s best-known cartoonists, Cabut published many popular comic books in the 1970s and ’80s. The bespectacled, mop-haired caricaturist worked for the majority of the country’s satirical magazines during his career, including
Le Canard Enchaî
né
and the now-folded
Hara-Kiri
, as well as
Charlie Hebdo
. His talent for instant caricature made him a frequent participant in political television shows during which he would produce cartoons live. He studied art in Paris and his first published work was with a paper in Reims,
L’Union de Reims
. His creation of a cartoon character Le Grand Duduche, a bespectacled schoolboy, led to the publication of a series of comic strip books in the 1960s.
Georges Wolinski (80)
The cartoonist
Wolinski was a pillar of the French satirical world and had a long association with Charlie Hebdo, having been editor between 1970 and 1981. Born in Tunis, the son of a Franco-Italian mother and Polish Jewish father, he was brought up by his maternal grandparents in France. During his long career he worked for the majority of French satirical magazines as well as mainstream publications including France-Soir, Libération, l'Humanité, Le Nouvel Observateur and Paris Match. In May 1968 he founded the paper L'Enrage. He received the Legion of Honour, France's highest distinction, in 2005.
Bernard Verlhac, aka Tignous (58)
A prolific cartoonist whose work was published in satirical magazines including
Charlie Hebdo
and the Franco-Belgian comic magazine
Fluide Glacial
, as well as French news magazines. He began drawing comic strips in 1980 before moving into the press. He was the author of a 2011 book titled
Five Years Under Sarkozy
, about the former centre-right president Nicolas Sarkozy, who was a frequent target of the cartoonist.
Bernard Maris (68)
Maris was an economist and journalist who wrote the weekly “Uncle Bernard” column in
Charlie Hebdo
. The author of a book on Keynes, he graduated in economics at Toulouse where he became a university professor. At the time of his death he was teaching economics at the University of Paris-VIII and was on the board of
Charlie Hebdo
. He was also a frequent television debater on economic issues, on which he had a reputation for being anti-globalisation. He was a former scientific adviser to Attac, the international movement working for social, environmental and democratic alternatives in the globalisation process. Earlier in his career Maris was a lecturer in micro-economics at the University of Iowa and worked at the central bank of Peru.
– (Guardian service)