Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verloni (RFI)

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) paid tribute to the murdered Radio France Internationale (RFI) journalists, whose bodies were flown back to Paris early Tuesday morning (5 November).

President François Hollande greeted the plane carrying the coffins of Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon.

The two were on assignment in northern Mali. They were abducted and killed shortly after interviewing a local political leader.

RFI, an EBU Member broadcaster, observed a moment of silence in honour of their murdered colleagues. 

EBU Director-General Ingrid Deltenre expressed how troubling this news was: "The entire EBU community is deeply saddened by this. Our thoughts are with the families and friends of the two journalists, and with everyone at RFI."

She added that the courage and dedication of the two reporters will be remembered for a long time to come.

According to the International News Safety Institute (INSI), a coalition of news organizations and journalist groups supported by the EBU, 70 journalists and news staff have been killed on assignment so far in 2013.

For more information on the EBU's campaign against violence towards reporters, as well as safety training courses for journalists provided by Eurovision ACADEMY, visit the EBU's 'Safety of Journalists' page.