FOLLOWING is a statement from Ambassador Robert Kopecký, Head of the European Union Delegation in Guyana, on the terrorist attack in Paris:

THE horrific and cowardly attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris Wednesday 1is an attack not only on over twenty innocent civilians, but also on two of the most fundamental values shared by the European Union and democracies the world over. The European Union and its Member States condemn this attack in the strongest terms.
Freedom of expression and freedom of the press are essential elements of any democratic and open society. Each is protected by the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, by the European Convention on Human Rights, and by the Constitutions of all the Member States. These values are a central tenet of who we are as Europeans.
Wednesday twelve individuals, including ten of Charlie Hebdo’s staff and two French police officers, paid the ultimate price in defence of these values. They were murdered in cold blood for doing their jobs, for exercising not just their own rights and freedoms, but those of all of us. Still more were wounded, some seriously. Our sincerest condolences are with these individuals and their families.
We thank the Government of Guyana and the Guyanese people who stand in solidarity with us and in defence of freedom everywhere. A chorus of condemnation has rung out across the globe following this barbaric attack. Those who would seek to deprive us of our fundamental freedoms, anywhere in the world, should be left in no doubt that our collective resolve to defend these freedoms will never be diminished.