AFP, published on Wednesday January 15, 2020 at 09:31
Johnny Hallyday’s coffin has been transferred to a final vault in the Lorient marine cemetery on the Caribbean island of Saint Barthélemy, near the grave where he was buried in December 2017, his widow Laeticia said on Wednesday.
“Johnny finally rests in his last home, on the island of Saint-Barthélemy. It was the choice of a free man, who found here the peace to which he aspired. The steps were carried out with professionalism, in the respect for his wishes, “she wrote on Instagram Wednesday morning.
“I thank with all my heart all those who contributed to it,” she concludes, accompanying her message with a black and white photo of “Taulier”, the one that sat enthroned in front of the Madeleine church during the tribute. popular after his death.
The coffin was transferred overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday in Saint-Barthélémy, his entourage told AFP. It “was done with the agreement of the elders” of the singer, Laura Smet and David Hallyday, said Wednesday morning Me Gilles Gauer, the lawyer of Laeticia Hallyday at AFP.
This transfer project was the subject of a weapons deal between Laeticia Hallyday and Laura Smet at the end of December, who agreed “on the principle of exhumation” but refused to allow it to be done without being consulted on the conditions.
Since his burial on December 11, 2017 on the small Caribbean island, the rocker rested in a coffin which was threatened by sand and crabs, according to the entourage of Laeticia Hallyday.
“The sea sand, very aggressive and very corrosive (…) could significantly alter the wood of the coffin, to which we can add the danger of large earth crabs very numerous in the cemetery of Lorient”, assured end December Laeticia Hallyday’s lawyer, citing the chief gravedigger of the cemeteries of Saint-Barthélemy.
Laeticia Hallyday had a family vault built for several months right next to the first tomb. But the exhumation and the transfer of the coffin were suspended by the Collectivity at the beginning of October at the request of Laura Smet, who considered that she had not been previously consulted on this transfer.
Laeticia Hallyday’s relations with David Hallyday and Laura Smet have been strained since the star’s death, and a legal battle pits these two camps over the legacy.
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