Remembering RFI's murdered journalists Ghislaine and Claude

It has been five years since RFI's Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon were kidnapped and killed in Mali. The UN has declared 2 November to be an international day against those who persecute journalists.

On 2 November 2013, RFI's Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon were kidnapped and killed while on a field mission in Northern Mali.

Five years on, we are still in the dark concerning the motives and the circumstances of the killings.

Read RFI's article on the questions that remain over Dupont and Verlon's murder

Secret documents have been twice declassified , and a French judge visited Bamako earlier this year, but essential questions still remain unanswered.

Family and relatives seek the truth
For friends and colleagues of the two journalists, the memory of November 2, 2013 still runs deep.

Marie-Solange Poinsot, Dupont's mother, told RFI that not knowing what happened makes her believe that her daughter will return

“I know it's been five years,… But I don't count the days, I just see time passing. When it happened, I was 83. I'm 88 now. I keep on telling myself that my 'Gisou' was alive at 1pm, and one and a half hours later, she wasn't there anymore. It's horrible. I fear the worst, and I'd really like to know the truth”.

Apolline Verlon, Claude Verlon's daughter, shares the same pain.

“The more time goes by, the more are we separated from them. It's difficult to grieve when one doesn't know what actually happened. When everything is possible, the imagination runs wild and it's very difficult to close the chapter", she told RFI.

Sunlight in the darkness - the Ghislaine Dupont-Claude Verlon scholarship

Two initiatives have kept Ghislaine and Claude's memory alive.

In memory of Dupont and Verlon, the United Nations has declared 2 November as an international day to condemn impunity for those who commit crimes against journalists.

Secondly, RFI's parent company France Médias Monde launched a scholarship in 2014 in memory of the two journalists.

The Ghislaine Dupont-Claude Verlon scholarship recompenses a journalist and a technician from the African subcontinent each year.

The scholarship is preceded by workshops administered by France Médias Monde staff.

This year, the session is being held in Côte d'Ivoire. Previous sessions were held in Mali, Madagascar, Benin and Senegal.

“One had to do something with the pain”, Marie-Christine Saragosse, France Médias Monde's president, told RFI.

“This will let a bit of sunlight into the darkness. The darkness will always be there, but [this scholarship] lets in a bit of sun”, she said.