His family, his colleagues from BFMTV, including reporter Maxime Brandstaetter who teamed up with him in Ukraine, his partner Sam Cottet were notably present, alongside Marc-Olivier Fogiel, CEO of BFMTV, and Christophe Deloire, Secretary General of RSF, noted an AFP journalist on the spot.
Frédéric was a “sweet and joyful person, so don’t be sad”, declared Sylviane Imhoff, in front of several hundred people participating in this rally at the call of RSF, during which she recalled the journey of her son.
“Giving a voice to the most humble, to the invisible” was part of “the values from which it was steeped”, she underlined, moved, referring to previous reports with chambermaids in large hotels in particular.
“The editorial staff is in mourning. We mourn a committed journalist”, underlined for his part Marc-Olivier Fogiel, describing a professional anything but “hothead”. “He wanted to tell the world, we will continue to cover this conflict”.
The rally was to end with a minute of applause.
The body of Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff, killed on May 30 by shrapnel during a bombardment, was repatriated to France overnight from Wednesday to Thursday, in the presence of the Minister of Culture Rima Abdul Malak.
Late Wednesday morning, his colleagues at BFMTV observed a minute of silence in his memory.
Aged 32, this tall, dark-haired man with soft features had worked for BFMTV for six years and was carrying out his second mission there in Ukraine, as a journalist and image reporter (JRI).
After the announcement of his death, the French National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor’s Office (Pnat) announced the opening of a war crimes investigation.
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna tweeted that the journalist had been “killed by a Russian bombardment”.
