French journalist Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff, killed on May 30 while following a humanitarian mission in eastern Ukraine, will receive the Legion of Honor posthumously, the French Minister of Culture announced on Thursday 23 February, during a trip to Kiev.
Rima Abdul Malak added that this appointment was made by presidential decree, according to information sent by his cabinet to AFP.
“Culture is a weapon of resistance”
This announcement took place during a ceremony in front of the French Embassy, attended by journalist Maxime Brandstaetter and the Ukrainian fixer present with Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff at the time of the bombardment, said the same source.
Before that, the minister visited the emblematic Maidan square in the center of kyiv, which has become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance.
In the company of actresses Anaïs Demoustier and Carole Bouquet, she notably gathered in front of a forest of small Ukrainian flags planted in memory of the victims of the Russian invasion.
"
Culture is a weapon of resistance and this war is also cultural, it is a war to destroy the heritage, to reach the soul of the creation of this country
", declared to the journalists Rima Abdul Malak, who must exchange at the during this trip with his Ukrainian counterpart, Oleksandre Tkatchenko.
Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff was killed, at the age of 32, by shrapnel during a bombardment.
He had worked for BFMTV for six years and was then on his second assignment in Ukraine, as a photojournalist (JRI).
In total, since the start of the war in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, eight journalists have been killed and 19 injured, according to the report by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
A room in the media library of the French Institute in the Ukrainian capital will also be renamed in the name of Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff, said Ms. Abdul Malak.