It may seem a bit macabre, but the terrible tale of multiple killings of innocents in Toulouse continues to yield messages of hope, peeking through the scenes of blood and gore. It began with the heartfelt plea for increased light that was issued by widow and grieving mother Chava (Eva) Sandler. Now the pregnant girlfriend of one of the Toulouse gunman’s victims has said she will marry her murdered partner in a posthumous ceremony.
Paratrooper Abel Chennouf was among Islamic fanatic gunman Mohamed Merah’s first victims – he was shot dead a week and a half ago at an ATM in Toulouse.
Speaking through her attorney, Gilbert Collard, Chennouf’s pregnant girlfriend, Caroline Monet, 21, announced she was requesting presidential permission to get married to her late partner at an official ceremony.
According to Collard, posthumous marriages may be sanctioned in France under very special circumstances. The decision is in the hands of the President of the Republic.
Attorney Collard said that President Nicolas Sarkozy has given his approval for the ceremony.
The AFP described Caroline Monet as being so “heavily pregnant” when she was attending a military commemoration ceremony in her late partner’s memory on Thursday, that she was had to sit in a wheelchair.
In the past the girlfriends of two policeman killed while on duty in Marseille and Lyon received presidential authorization to marry their fallen mates.