François Zimeray is a lawyer, former politician, Human Rights activist and diplomat.
Born on 4 July 1961, he was a Member of the European Parliament for the Party of European Socialists from 1999 to 2004.
Former mayor of Petit-Quevilly, he served as President of the Greater Rouen - Normandy area from 2001 to 2008.
He was appointed on 13 February 2008 as French Ambassador-at-large for Human Rights by Nicolas Sarkozy and Bernard Kouchner.
In 2013, he was appointed as France's Ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark by President Francois Hollande and Minister Laurent Fabius.
He survived the 2015 Copenhagen shootings, Islamist terror attack on February 14, 2015 where he was targeted together with other activists.