“I have the honor, on behalf of the Government of the Republic, to ask the National Assembly for the abolition of the death penalty in France.
» It is with these words that Robert Badinter, just appointed Minister of Justice, opened the historic debates for the abolition of the death penalty in France on September 17, 1981. Died this Friday, at the age of 95 , he will mark French history as being the one who allowed the abolition of capital punishment, the most memorable measure of the presidency of François Mitterrand.
“Because no man is totally responsible, because no justice can be absolutely infallible, the death penalty is morally unacceptable”, insists Robert Badinter in a fiery speech lasting an hour and a half, “for those of us who believe in God, he alone has the power to choose the hour of our death.”
He also reviews French history, emphasizing that the abolition of capital punishment has been on the table several times over the last two centuries.
Recalling that France was the first country in Europe to abolish torture, "among the first countries in the world to abolish slavery", he deplores that in Europe, it remains "one of the last countries, almost the last (…) not to abolish the death penalty.
» “In countries of freedom, abolition is almost everywhere the rule;
in countries where dictatorship reigns, the death penalty is practiced everywhere,” he says.
“Tomorrow, thanks to you, French justice will no longer be a justice that kills”
But “tomorrow, thanks to you, French justice will no longer be a justice that kills.
Tomorrow, thanks to you, there will no longer be, for our common shame, furtive executions, at dawn, under the black canopy, in French prisons.
Tomorrow, the bloody pages of our justice will be turned,” he chants to the attention of the deputies, in a poignant conclusion.
The declarations of the Minister of Justice are not made without emotion, with deputies opposed to this reform interrupting Robert Badinter several times.
The climate was in fact not favorable to abolition at that time: on the morning of the vote, in a Figaro poll, 62% of French people said they were opposed to it.
However, those sentenced to death are becoming increasingly rare in the country: the last executed in France was Hamida Djandoubi, guillotined on September 10, 1977.
However, after heated debates, the law was adopted in the National Assembly the day after Robert Badinter spoke, on September 18, 1981, by 369 votes to 113. On September 30, 1981, it was the Senate which adopted it. approved, by 161 votes to 126. It was promulgated on October 9 of the same year.
In 2007, it was even included in the Constitution.