PARIS (Reuters) -The grave of former French justice minister Robert Badinter was desecrated on Thursday, a few hours before President Emmanuel Macron was set to dedicate a cenotaph in his memory in central Paris. “Shame on those who sought to tarnish his memory. Tonight, he will enter the Pantheon, the eternal home of conscience and […]
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Former French justice minister Badinter’s grave desecrated ahead of Pantheon ceremony
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PARIS (Reuters) -The grave of former French justice minister Robert Badinter was desecrated on Thursday, a few hours before President Emmanuel Macron was set to dedicate a cenotaph in his memory in central Paris.
“Shame on those who sought to tarnish his memory. Tonight, he will enter the Pantheon, the eternal home of conscience and justice. The Republic is always stronger than hatred,” Macron wrote on social platform X.
The Pantheon is a mausoleum where some of France’s most prominent national heroes are buried.
Badinter, who died in 2024 aged 95, is mostly remembered for pushing forward the abolition of the death penalty in France and fighting for the decriminalisation of homosexuality when he was justice minister in the 1980s.
The cenotaph will contain Badinter’s legal gown, three books that he cherished, and a copy of his most famous speech, the Élysée Palace told Reuters on Wednesday.
His body will remain in the Jewish section of Bagneux cemetery, just south of Paris.
(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon, editing by Inti Landauro and Sharon Singleton)