M. Robert Badinter: I know that nowadays - and this is the main problem -, some of you consider capital punishment as a kind of ultimate resort, a kind of extreme defense of democracy against the serious threat represented by terrorism. Guillotine, they think, would possibly protect democracy instead of dishonoring it. This argument reveals a complete ignorance of reality. Indeed, History shows that, if there is a category of crime that has never backed out in front of the threat of death, it is political crime. And, more specifically, if there is a kind of woman or man that the threat of death couldn't make hesitate, it is the terrorist. First, because he faces death during his violent action; then, because deep down in his heart, he feels some dark fascination over violence and death, the one he gives, and also the one he receives.
Terrorism, which, for me, is a major crime against democracy, and that, should it take place in this country, would be repressed and prosecuted with all necessary steadiness, has, as a rallying cry, whatever the ideology that motivates it, the terrible cry of the fascists during the Spain War: "Viva la muerte!". So, believing that one could stop it with death is illusion.
