Thousands of witches tortured and killed three centuries ago to be pardoned by Scotland

Several centuries after the deaths of thousands of women suspected of being witches and executed in Scotland, activists may soon have obtained justice. These 3,837 victims, 84% of whom are women, could receive a formal apology from the state, as a bill introduced in the Scottish Parliament to erase the names of those accused has won the support of Nicola Sturgeon , the Scottish Prime Minister.

Almost three centuries after the repeal of the law on witchcraft, which set the punishments for accused women, namely the death penalty, they are on the right track to obtain an apology from the government, at the end of the process. a two-year campaign led by the Witches of Scotland group. Of these victims, two-thirds were executed and burned, reports the Guardian.

This bill, which would rehabilitate these victims, comes in the wake of a decision by the Massachusetts House of Representatives, in the United States, which in 2001 recognized the innocence of witches sentenced in Salem – a series of trials which had led to the execution of 20 people at the end of the 17th century.

Between 1563 and 1736 more precisely, a number of women were indeed suspected of being the source of curses and of carrying on Satanist practices, and were thus tortured to obtain their confession then executed – often strangled and then burned. Beliefs at the time made them responsible for incidents and unlucky episodes, such as natural disasters or famines, so witch hunts became obsessive in some areas, giving rise to five “great Scottish witch hunts” and a series of trials, continues the British daily.

Globally, more than 200,000 witchcraft trials are said to have taken place and 50,000 to 100,000 women have been burned, but these hunts have been particularly violent in Scotland, notes The world.

Claire Mitchell QC, who leads the Witches of Scotland campaign, demanded in addition to an official apology from the government a national monument for the victims of these witch hunts. “Per capita, between the 16th and the 18th century, we executed five times as many people as elsewhere in Europe, the vast majority of whom were women”, she told the Sunday Times. “To put that into perspective, in Salem 300 people were charged and 19 people were executed. In Scotland we were very good at finding women to burn. Those executed were not guilty, so they should be acquitted. “

“It is right that this wrong be righted, that these people who have been criminalized, mostly women, be forgiven”, For her part, she estimated the deputy Natalie Don, at the origin of this text of the bill, which should be voted by the summer of 2022, reports The world.