On the morning of January, 7 in Paris masked men burst into the editorial office of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and opened fire with Kalashnikov assault rifles. They killed 10 journalists and two policemen. The reason for the attack was the publication in the weekly cartoons on Islamic topics. As part of the investigation the police arrested seven people in France - relatives and friends suspected of involvement in the attack.

French President declared three days of mourning in the country.

This tragedy has affected Belarus as well. One of the fallen staff of the magazine Charlie Hebdo Michel Renaud was married to the woman from Gomel.

On January, 7 Renaud went to the editorial office to return to the artist Cabu his drawings, which were exhibited at the Rendez-vous-2014. Renaud was invited to participate in the editorial planning meeting.

In his hometown Renaud has founded and has held the festival "travel diary" in which artists, journalists and writers from 120 countries describe their impressions of travellings. In 2009 in Gomel’s Gallery of Gavriil Vaschenko Renaud’s exhibition "Around the World in 80 photographs" was held.

His relationship with Belarus and Gomel was deeply personal: he was married to the woman from Gomel, whose sister is an editor in one of Belarusian newspaper.

We express our sincere condolences to the families and friends of the deceased people.