Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on October 9, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Robert Badinter's grave was vandalized before a Pantheon ceremony. President Macron condemned the act and honored Badinter's legacy of justice.
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)
A cenotaph is a monument erected in honor of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It serves as a memorial to commemorate their legacy.
The Pantheon is a mausoleum in Paris that contains the remains of distinguished French citizens. It serves as a symbol of national pride and remembrance.
The abolition of the death penalty signifies a country's commitment to human rights and the belief that capital punishment is inhumane and irreversible.
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