Invited to the 8th world congress against the death penalty, the Keeper of the Seals insisted on the fight for “the universal abolition” of this “abomination”.
by Abel Mestre (Berlin, Special Envoy)
Eric Dupond-Moretti is convinced: the fight against capital punishment is still topical. This is in any case the message that the French Minister of Justice wanted to deliver, Tuesday, November 15, during the 8 e world congress against the death penalty, organized in Berlin, by the NGO Together against the death penalty. The Keeper of the Seals – Like Christiane Taubira, her predecessor between 2012 and 2016 – was invited to express themselves during this international “abolitionist” meeting. A fight that is close to his heart, according to those around him.
“It is with honor, pride and emotion that I find you here, he launched in the Pierre-Boulez room, held for the occasion. France got rid of the death penalty In 1981 and since then she has continued to reaffirm that justice could not find a translation in capital punishment. “And to add:” It is an essential civilizational choice. This fight of humanity which is sown with pitfalls. Peace, democracy, the rule of law, are permanent fights. It is the same for the death penalty. “
During his intervention, Mr. Dupond-Moretti shared the scene with his Liberian, Zambian and Sierra-Léonais counterparts. These three African countries have formalized, with Chile, their renunciation of the death penalty. “It is a day of celebration, historic”, welcomed the former penalty lawyer who is part, like Emmanuel Macron in 2021, in the fight for “the universal abolition”.
“You need courage”
m. Dupond Moretti also insisted on “one of the pitfalls of this fight: public opinion; it takes courage to go towards abolition”. It is true that a large proportion of French people want the restoration of capital punishment. In the “French fractures” survey -carried out by Ipsos -Sopra Steria for Le Monde, the Jean -Jaurès Foundation and Cevipof (Sciences Po) on a panel of 12,000 people and published in September 2022 -, 48 % of people Questioned are favorable to the death penalty. A result fluctuating for ten years, but which remains included in a range between 45 % and 55 % of respondents.
A little later, in a small committee, the minister continued his words and took the opportunity to castigate the “far -right populists” – his privileged target – who “make their honey of the repression and the restoration of the death sentence “. “The idea that repression puts an end to delinquency is false. Otherwise, it would long be that the problem would be solved, he said. The extreme right flats the low instincts. Which distinguishes the civilization from the barbarism is the rule of law. The very one that the extreme right considers a gravity which should be rid of. “
You have 18.03% of this article to read. The continuation is reserved for subscribers.