At least, according to the local newspaper L’Est Républicain, that is exactly how many residents of Pontarlier, Doubs, feel.
One local woman had such a bitter experience in mid-April when she came to honor the memory of her husband, who had died just two months earlier. “They stole our flower vase,” she told our colleagues, before explaining that she had discussed this “within her circle,” noting that she was not the only resident of Pontarlier to face such a situation. “I was even told that one family had toys stolen from a child’s grave,” she said indignantly.
Grave desecration is a criminal offense.
This is not the first time the Saint-Roch cemetery in Pontarlier has fallen victim to thieves. In 2019, Jean-Yves Frélet, a municipal official in charge of citizenship matters, told our colleagues at L’Est Républicain about two reports of figurines being stolen from headstones. “One was taken at the start of summer,” he admitted. “And it happened again in September,” he said regretfully.
The thieves from 2019 and 2021 have not been identified by law enforcement. “I think they operate at night when the guard is not there,” explained the municipal official at the time, who “advised families to file a report.”
Desecrating a grave is a crime punishable under the Penal Code, which sanctions “the violation or desecration in any form of graves, urns, or monuments erected in memory of the deceased,” according to the L’Assurance Obsèques website. This offense is punishable by imprisonment from one to five years and a fine ranging from €15,000 to €75,000.