Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

A man holds a religious leaflet showing the priest Jacques Hamel during his funeral mass. Adel Kermiche, attacked the church last month, killing the priest with another assailant. AP/Press Association Images
France

Priest killer buried in France in a discreet funeral

France has wrestled with the conundrum of where to bury the terrorists.

ONE OF THE MEN who murdered a French priest in July was buried in a Paris suburb, where his family owns a crypt, a local official said today.

France has wrestled with the conundrum of where to bury the terrorist behind a string of deadly attacks in recent months.

Adel Kermiche, 19, was shot dead by French police after he and another assailant attacked a church on 26 July in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvroy in northern France, murdering priest Jacques Hamel and seriously injuring another hostage.

Yesterday evening, Kermiche was buried in a discreet funeral in the Muslim section of a multi-faith cemetery in the Puiseux-Pontoise suburb northwest of Paris.

“All we did was strictly apply the law. The family owns a crypt in the cemetery, and the… law guarantees the right to be buried, regardless of the circumstances surrounding the person’s death,” a local official said.

After standing in solidarity with Christians mourning the bloodshed at the Normandy church, local Muslim leaders in France had refused to grant Kermiche a Muslim burial.

Officials meanwhile fear that graves of terrorists could become a site of “pilgrimage” for other extremists.

Abdel Malik Petitjean, the other assailant in the church attack, has not yet been buried, with the mayors of the two areas where he was born and where he lived still refusing to allow his body to be inhumed on their turf.

© AFP 2016

Read: Steven Avery of ‘Making A Murderer’ to claim DNA evidence was planted in initial trial>

Read: Priests say Vatican’s representative in Ireland is “out of sync” with the realities of life>

Your Voice
Readers Comments
33
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.