Bereaved husband of Paris victim reads his defiant message to the the attackers, telling them that they had taken “an exceptional life” but they would “not have my hatred.”
Antoine Leiris, whose wife – Helene Muyal, aged 35 was one of the 89 people killed in the Bataclan Theater during last Friday’s series of Paris attacks, penned an emotional post on Facebook to the attackers vowing that “you will not have my hatred.”
The open letter has been shared over 200,000 times since it was posted on Monday.
BBC News reached out to Leiris to have him read the letter aloud.
Leiris, who first met his wife 12 years ago, told attackers that he would raise their son, Melvil, to be “happy and free,” that responding to “hatred with anger is falling victim to the same ignorance that has made you what you are.”
“Every day of his life, this little boy will insult you with his happiness,” he added.
Friday night, you took an exceptional life – the love of my life, the mother of my son – but you will not have my hatred. I don’t know who you are and I don’t want to know, you are dead souls. If this God, for whom you kill blindly, made us in his image, every bullet in the body of my wife would have been one more wound in his heart.
So, no, I will not grant you the gift of my hatred. You’re asking for it, but responding to hatred with anger is falling victim to the same ignorance that has made you what you are. You want me to be scared, to view my countrymen with mistrust, to sacrifice my liberty for my security. You lost.
I saw her this morning. Finally, after nights and days of waiting. She was just as beautiful as when she left on Friday night, just as beautiful as when I fell hopelessly in love over 12 years ago. Of course I am devastated by this pain, I give you this little victory, but the pain will be short-lived. I know that she will be with us every day and that we will find ourselves again in this paradise of free love to which you have no access.
We are just two, my son and me, but we are stronger than all the armies in the world. I don’t have any more time to devote to you, I have to join Melvil who is waking up from his nap. He is barely 17-months-old. He will eat his meals as usual, and then we are going to play as usual, and for his whole life this little boy will threaten you by being happy and free. Because no, you will not have his hatred either.
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