A French judge visited Mali in February to investigate the 2013 deaths of RFI journalists Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon but was unable to visit Kidal, the site of the murders, a group dedicated to their memory was told at a meeting on Saturday, reports FRANCE 24.
Dupont, a reporter, and Verlon, a reporting technician, worked for RFI (Radio France Internationale), FRANCE 24’s sister station. They were in Kidal in northern Mali covering the country’s legislative elections when they were kidnapped and murdered on November 2, 2013.
Jean-Marc Herbaut, the French judge investigating the killings, traveled to the capital Bamako on February 5 to work with his Malian counterparts, the Friends of Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon group was told at a meeting in Paris on Saturday. For security reasons, he was unable to go to Kidal.
"The judge has been able to talk to local officials," said FRANCE 24 reporter Nicholas Rushworth, who was at the meeting. "He’s been able to talk to people who were witnesses there."
"He’s learned that one of the suspects in the case has died in recent months," Rushworth continued. "Also, he was able to obtain new phone data and phone recordings that could be useful for the investigation. So, for the Friends here, [there is] some sense of movement after many years of frustration."
None of the alleged perpetrators have been arrested and no concrete progress had been made in the inquiry.
“We’re asking the same questions and still getting no response,” Christophe Boisbouvier, an RFI journalist and a member of the Friends of Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon, had said before the meeting.