Quentin De Groeve / Hans Lucas via AFP
Bruno Retailleau, here on July 24, 2025, announced that the residence permit of the man who lit his cigarette on the grave of the unknown soldier was not going to be renewed.
POLICY – The sanction was not long in. The man accused of having lit his cigarette on the flame of the unknown soldier in Paris will be removed his residence permit, by decision of the Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau, reveals Europe 1 this Wednesday, August 6. Information confirmed by Le Figaro who cites a source close to the file.
According to the daily, the man is a Moroccan, in possession of a residence permit valid until October 2025. He is unfavorably known to justice, in particular for theft, degradation, violence, or even public insult because of the race.
The man was arrested for violation of burial, tomb, urn or monument built in memory of the dead. Placed in police custody, he recognized the facts and must be presented to a judge. If the offense is incurred up to a year in prison and a fine of 15,000 euros, the man is above all likely to be expelled from the territory after the withdrawal of his residence permit.
“Unacceptable indecency”
The video where we see it crouching near the flame under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, to light a cigarette there before leaving quietly, caused the political class. The Minister Delegate in charge of memory and veterans Patricia Mirallès denounced “A gesture of an unacceptable indecency”. “We do not shuffle the memory of France with impunity”she insisted, announcing to seize justice. His colleague from Beauvau Bruno Retailleau has cast out a gesture that ” involves the memory of those who died for France ”.
Le Figaro says the scene was filmed by a Latvian tourist in Paris “Monday August 4 shortly before 9 pm, and posted for the first time on the Tiktok social network in stride, before being massively shared”. “He didn’t seem to be alcoholic or under the influence of drugs. On the contrary, he was manifestly aware of what he was doing, and proud to have done it ”testified to the one who presents herself as the author of the video in Figaro.
