The old gentleman carefully takes out a sheaf of yellowed papers, each carefully encased in a plastic sleeve. These are his memories of the Revolution. Robert Badinter spent so much time with the philosophers of the Enlightenment that he always gives the impression of having sat in the Convention, when he was not yet in the Senate, and of having talked at length with Condorcet and Fabre d’Églantine in the paths of the Luxembourg Gardens. They are familiar shadows, which he caresses gently.
“There, it is the decree of Condorcet’s arrest, from the Committee of General Security, July 8, 1793, which I fortunately found. Here, one of his speeches, from 1791, magnificent. This is all very valuable. »
The former Minister of Justice is now 88 years old, a tall, slim figure with a slightly hard ear, a slightly less firm voice, but still sharp thoughts and easy laughter. The abolition of the death penalty, with the law of October 9, 1981, is today celebrating its 35th anniversary and it is, for Robert Badinter, the fight of a lifetime. He told it in two books, strong and poignant, Execution (Fayard), in 1973, then Abolition (Fayard), in 2000, and has since patiently built his statue, from speeches to conferences, and throughout Europe.
“The Murderers’ Lawyer”
Robert Badinter speaks willingly, but almost only about the abolition of the death penalty. This is the condition for an interview, the mark it intends to leave in History, and moreover an inexhaustible struggle: when nearly two thirds of States have abolished, in theory or in practice, capital punishment, according to Amnesty International, 58 are still resisting.
“And nothing, I mean nothing, compares to what I experienced in a provincial criminal court, with all these people screaming with hatred, screaming to death”
Robert Badinter
The commander is a little annoying on the left. No Keeper of the Seals would risk admitting it – on the contrary, it is essential to obtain the anointing of the great man when you arrive at Place Vendôme. He gives it willingly and makes it his duty not to speak ill in public of any of his successors. Including the dullest ones, which only highlight his stature – he who was probably, in the first years of François Mitterrand’s seven-year term, one of the most hated ministers, the incarnation of the supposed laxity of the LEFT, “the murderers’ lawyer”.
This is because he defended and saved six people condemned to death, one after the other. “These will be my witnesses when I appear before the Lord. I am a modest sinner, like everyone else, smiles the former minister, but I have witnesses for my defence, certainly for the majority of the murderers. And nothing, I mean nothing, compares to what I experienced in a provincial criminal court, with all these people screaming with hatred, screaming to death. There was only one open door in the palace. I had to go through the crowd, and I assure you that they looked at me without tenderness. »
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