Robert Badinter
Robert Badinter (born 30 March 1928) is a French lawyer, politician and author who enacted the abolition of the death penalty in France in 1981, while serving as Minister of Justice under François Mitterrand. He has also served in high-level appointed positions with national and international bodies working for justice and the rule of law.
Robert Badinter was born 30 March 1928 in Paris to Simon Badinter and Charlotte Rosenberg. His Bessarabian Jewish family had immigrated to France in 1921 to escape pogroms. During World War II, after the Nazi occupation of Paris, his family sought refuge in Lyon. His father was captured in the 1943 Rue Sainte-Catherine Roundup and deported with other Jews to the Sobibor extermination camp, where he died shortly thereafter.
Badinter graduated in law from Paris Law Faculty of the University of Paris. He then went to the United States to continue his studies at Columbia University in New York City where he got his MA. He continued his studies again at the Sorbonne until 1954. In 1965, Badinter was appointed as a professor at University of Sorbonne. He continued as an Emeritus professor until 1996.
Badinter started his career in Paris in 1951, as a lawyer in a joint work with Henri Torrès. In 1965, along with Jean-Denis Bredin, he founded the law firm Badinter, Bredin et partenaires, (now Bredin Prat) where he practiced law until 1981.
Badinter's activism against the death penalty began after Roger Bontems's execution on 28 November 1972. Along with Claude Buffet, Bontems had taken a prison guard and a nurse hostage during the 1971 revolt in Clairvaux Prison. While the police were storming the building, Buffet slit the hostages' throats. Badinter served as defense counsel for Bontems. Although it was established during the trial that Buffet alone was the murderer, the jury sentenced both men to death. Badinter was outraged by unfair impositions of the death penalty and, after witnessing the executions, further dedicated himself to the abolition of the death penalty.
In this context, he agreed to defend Patrick Henry. In January 1976, 8-year-old Philipe Bertrand was kidnapped. Henry was soon picked up as a suspect, but released because of a lack of proof. He gave interviews on television, saying that those who kidnapped and killed children deserved death. A few days later, he was again arrested, 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 paroled in 2001. ...
Source: Article "Robert Badinter" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Known For | Acting |
---|---|
Most Rating | 1.312 |
Birthday | 1928-03-30 |
Place of Birth | Paris, France |
Also Known As |
2021
Robert Badinter, la vie avant tout
10/1
In September 2021, France will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the abolition of the death penalty. A decision so strong that it will symbolize, in i...
Watch Now
Robert Badinter, la vie avant tout
1991
Against Oblivion
6.5/2
Contre l'Oubli (Against Oblivion) is a compilation of 30 French filmmakers, Alain Resnais and Jean Luc Godard among them, who use film to make a plea...
Watch Now
Against Oblivion
2007
My Enemy's Enemy
7.1/11
A look at the history of one-time Gestapo commander Klaus Barbie, infamously known as "The Butcher of Lyon." This documentary's main focus will be on...
Watch Now
My Enemy's Enemy
2018
Robert Badinter, un cri de révolte
8/1
Watch Now
Robert Badinter, un cri de révolte
2012
Mazarine Pingeot - Une vie au secret
0/0
Watch Now
Mazarine Pingeot - Une vie au secret
2010
François Mitterrand et la guerre d'Algérie
10/1
Watch Now
François Mitterrand et la guerre d'Algérie
2012
Victor Hugo : la face cachée du grand homme
0/0
Watch Now
Victor Hugo : la face cachée du grand homme
2011
François Mitterrand, à bout portant : 1993-1996
9/1
"What could be more unsettling than a man close to death whose profound arrogance drives him relentlessly to hang onto both his power and his writing,...
Watch Now
François Mitterrand, à bout portant : 1993-1996
2014
Ministre ou rien
0/0
This is the unlikely story of 21 ministers and prime ministers who have crossed or are crossing the french Fifth Republic today. Twenty-one politician...
Watch Now
Ministre ou rien
2019
The Spark: The Origins of Pride
6.1/6
A story of the LGBT struggle from the 1960s to the present, after the Stonewall riot sparked the militant action in New York that was to spread around...
Watch Now
The Spark: The Origins of Pride
2013
Les lois anti-juives de Vichy, 1940-1944
0/0
Watch Now
Les lois anti-juives de Vichy, 1940-1944
2021
10 mai 1981 : Changer la vie ?
8/2
Fourty years ago, in May 1981, with François Mitterrand's election, some people were letting themselves dream about a better life while others were pr...
Watch Now