Robert Badinter | |
|---|---|
.JPG) Badinter in 2013 | |
| Senator | |
| In office 24 September 1995 – 30 September 2011 | |
| Preceded by | Françoise Seligmann |
| Succeeded by | Philippe Kaltenbach |
| Constituency | Hauts-de-Seine |
| President of theConstitutional Council | |
| In office 4 March 1986 – 4 March 1995 | |
| Appointed by | François Mitterrand |
| Preceded by | Daniel Mayer |
| Succeeded by | Roland Dumas |
| Minister of Justice | |
| In office 23 June 1981 – 19 February 1986 | |
| President | François Mitterrand |
| Prime Minister | Pierre Mauroy |
| Preceded by | Maurice Faure |
| Succeeded by | Michel Crépeau |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1928-03-30)30 March 1928 Paris, France |
| Died | 9 February 2024(2024-02-09) (aged 95) Paris, France[1] |
| Political party | Socialist Party |
| Spouse | Élisabeth Badinter |
| Children | 3 |
| Alma mater | University of Paris (LLB) Columbia University (MA) |
| Occupation | Lawyer, professor, politician, activist |
Robert Badinter (French pronunciation:[ʁɔbɛʁbadɛ̃tɛʁ]; 30 March 1928 – 9 February 2024) was a French lawyer, politician, and author who enacted theabolition of the death penalty in France in 1981, while serving as Minister of Justice underFrançois Mitterrand. He also served in high-level appointed positions with national and international bodies working for justice and the rule of law.
Robert Badinter was born on 30 March 1928, in Paris to Simon Badinter and Charlotte Rosenberg.[2] HisBessarabian Jewish family had immigrated to France in 1921 to escapepogroms. During World War II, after the Nazi occupation of Paris, his family sought refuge in Lyon. His father was captured in the 1943Rue Sainte-Catherine Roundup and deported with other Jews to theSobibor extermination camp, where he was murdered shortly thereafter.[3]
Badinter graduated in law fromParis Law Faculty of theUniversity of Paris. He then went to the United States to continue his studies atColumbia University in New York City, where he got hisMA. He continued his studies again atthe Sorbonne until 1954.[4] In 1965, Badinter was appointed a professor at University of Sorbonne. He continued as anEmeritus professor until 1996.[5]
Badinter started his career in Paris in 1951, as a lawyer working withHenri Torrès.[6]In 1965, along withJean-Denis Bredin, he founded the law firm Badinter, Bredin et partenaires, (nowBredin Prat)[7][8] where he practiced law until 1981.
Badinter's activism against the death penalty began after Roger Bontems's execution on 28 November 1972. Along withClaude Buffet, Bontems had taken a prison guard and a nurse hostage during the1971 revolt in Clairvaux Prison. While the police were storming the building, Buffet slit the hostages' throats. The jury sentenced both men to death. Badinter served as defense counsel for Bontems and was outraged by the sentence. After witnessing the executions, Badinter dedicated himself to the abolition of the death penalty.[9]
In this context, he agreed to defendPatrick Henry.[10] In January 1976, eight-year-old Philippe Bertrand was kidnapped. Henry was soon picked up as a suspect, but released because of a lack of evidence. He gave interviews on television, saying that those who kidnapped and killed children deserved death. A few days later, he was arrested again and shown Bertrand's corpse hidden in a blanket under his bed. Badinter and Robert Bocquillon defended Henry, making the case not about Henry's guilt, but against applying the death penalty. Henry was sentenced to life imprisonment and died months after acompassionate release from prison in 2017 (after receiving parole in 2001, revoked in 2002).[11] The lenient verdict came as a shock, with several publications having already called the outcome as a virtual certainty for execution; according to speculative sources, the critical vote on the death sentence failing by a seven-to-five vote majority.[12][13] The case ofJerome Carrein, condemned 15 days after Henry's sentence for the murder of a child, was widely dubbed the "revenge of the guillotine".[14][15] Until the execution ofGary Gilmore inUtah on 17 January, three days before Henry's verdict, France was the only Western liberal democracy actively performing executions.
Despite presidentValéry Giscard d'Estaing's modernist outlook and stated opposition to the guillotine, a further three executions took place during this period, ofChristian Ranucci in July 1976, Carrein in June 1977, andHamida Djandoubi in September 1977. Badinter took no part in arguing either case.[16][17] However, 63% of French voters supported keeping the death penalty at the time it was abolished.[18] In 1980-81, Badinter defendedPhilippe Maurice, whose sentence of death was confirmed by thesuperior court in March 1981, weeks before theelection of abolitionistFrançois Mitterrand toPresident.[18][19] A further eight sentences of death were issued before the bill of abolition was passed by the French parliament in September (the last only two days before the Senate voted) but none reached stage of execution and were converted by the abolition act.[20][21] Maurice's sentence, after lobbying from Badinter, was commuted by Mitterrand on May 25, among Mitterrand's first acts as president.[17]
In 1981,François Mitterrand, a self-professed opponent of the death penalty, was elected president and Badinter was appointed asMinister of Justice. Among his first actions was to introduce a bill toParliament proposing the abolition of the death penalty for all crimes, both civilian and military. The bill was passed by the Senate after heated debate on 30 September 1981. On 9 October the law was officially enacted, ending capital punishment in France.[22]
During his mandate, he also helped abolish "juridictions d'exception" ("special courts"), such as the Cour de Sûreté de l'État ("State Security Court [fr]") and the military courts,[23] and improved the rights of victims of crime.[23]
He remained a minister until February 1986.[24]
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From March 1986 to March 1995, he was president of theFrench Constitutional Council. From 1995 to 2011, he served as asenator, representing theHauts-de-Seinedépartement.[25]
In 1989, he participated in an edition of theAntenne 2 talk showApostrophes devoted to human rights, together with the14th Dalai Lama. Discussing the disappearance ofTibetan culture from Tibet, Badinter used the term "cultural genocide".[26] He praised the example of Tibetan nonviolent resistance.[27] Badinter met with the Dalai Lama many times, in particular in 1998 when he greeted him as the "Champion of Human Rights",[28] and again in 2008.[29]
In 1991, Badinter was appointed by theCouncil of Ministers of the European Community as a member of theArbitration Commission of the Peace Conference on Yugoslavia. He was elected as president of the commission by the four other members, all presidents ofconstitutional courts in theEuropean Community. The Arbitration Commission has rendered eleven pieces of advice regarding "major legal questions" arising from the split of theSocialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.[30]
Badinter was the first president of theCourt of Conciliation and Arbitration of theOrganization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) following its creation in 1995; he served in that position until 2013.[31]
Badinter opposed theaccession of Turkey to the European Union, on the grounds that Turkey might not be able to follow the rules of the Union. He was also concerned about the nation's location, saying: "We'll have, we Europeans, common borders with Georgia, Armenia, Iran, Iraq and Syria. I am asking you: What justifies our common borders with these countries? What justifies that we'd get involved in the most dangerous areas of the world?"[32]
As a head of the Arbitration Commission, he gained high respect amongMacedonians and other ethnic groups in theRepublic of Macedonia because he recommended "that the use of the name 'Macedonia' cannot therefore imply any territorial claim against another State".[33] He supported full recognition of the Republic in 1992.[34] He was involved in drafting the so-calledOhrid Agreement in the Republic of Macedonia.[35] This agreement was based on the principle that ethnic-related proposals passed by the national assembly (and later to be applied to actions of city councils and other local government bodies) should be supported by adouble majority of both Macedonian and Albanian ethnic groups. This is often called the "Badinter principle".[35][36]
In 2009, Badinter expressed dismay at the Pope's lifting of the excommunication of controversial English Catholic bishopRichard Williamson, who had expressedHolocaust denial and was illegallyconsecrated a bishop.[37] The Pope reactivated the excommunication later.[38]
Badinter was elected to theAmerican Philosophical Society in 2009.[39]
Badinter served as an Honorary Co-Chair for theWorld Justice Project. It works to lead a global, multidisciplinary effort to strengthen therule of law for the development of communities of opportunity and equity.[40]
At the start of the case ofDominique Strauss-Kahn in 2011, in which the IMF Managing Director was accused of rape and was arrested by the police in New York City, Robert Badinter reacted by saying toFrance Inter that he was outraged by the "media killing" and denounced the "failure of an entire system" inherent in theperp walk of Strauss-Kahn, a suspect, but also of the media judging an assumed culprit's guilt for charges that had not initiated a trial, and which were eventually dismissed.[41][42][43][44] Strauss-Kahn had been a favoured Socialist candidate for thepresidential election the following April, but dropped all pretences of running after his arrest.
Badinter married philosopher and feminist writerÉlisabeth Bleustein-Blanchet, daughter ofMarcel Bleustein-Blanchet, who was the founder ofPublicis, a multinational advertising and public relations company. He died in Paris during the night of 8 to 9 February 2024, at the age of 95.[45][1] President Macron later announced Badinter would be honored with burial in thePanthéon.[46][47]
Badinter refused any honorary distinction from the National Order of theLegion of Honor (as did his wife) and theOrdre National du Mérite. He nevertheless received foreign decorations, notably theOrder of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (Czech Republic) in 2001.[48] and theOrder 8-September (North Macedonia) in 2006.[49] As a longstanding activist for the abolition of the death penalty, Robert Badinter was appointed an honorary member of theInternational Commission Against the Death Penalty.[4] He was awarded the International Abolition Award byDeath Penalty Focus in 2023.[50]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Minister of Justice 1981–1986 | Succeeded by |
| Legal offices | ||
| Preceded by | President of theConstitutional Council 1986–1995 | Succeeded by |
