The partner of the Paris police officer who was murdered in a Jihadist attack, has said he will “suffer without hatred”, while holding back tears.
Addressing the crowd at Xavier Jugele’s funeral, Etienne Cardiles described planning a holiday with him the day he died, only to return home that night “with an extreme and profound pain” that will “maybe one day, weaken. I do not know”.
Jugele, 37, was killed when a 39-year-old man claiming allegiance to Islamic State opened fire on the Champs Elysees on April 20, injuring two others and sending scores of tourists running.
“I suffer without shame, you will not have my hatred,” Cardiles said in his eulogy at his husband’s funeral at Paris police headquarters on Tuesday, attended by politicians and dignitaries.
When Cardiles heard a police officer had died, “a small voice” told him it was his partner, he said.
He told the silent crowd: “At that moment in that place, the worst happened... It was one of those events that everyone dreads while hoping it will never happen. You will stay in my heart forever. Let’s remain dignified… let’s live in peace.”
Outgoing President Francois Hollande and presidential candidates Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen all attended the funeral.
Jugele’s murder galvanised Le Pen’s Front National in the days before the first round of voting in the race to be president on April 23.
Her campaign was dominated by anti-Islam and anti-immigration and, after Jugele’s murder, her campaign chief said: “If the state is feeble, you will have massive terrorist attacks – more and more in quantity and deaths, and this time, there will be civil war.”
Donald Trump said the Paris attack would “probably help” Le Pen at the polls and she made it through to the second-round runoff against Macron on May 7.
Cardiles was photographed shaking hands with Macron but did not meet Le Pen.