Robert Badinter

Robert Badinter was born on 30 March 1928, in Paris to Simon Badinter and Charlotte Rosenberg.{{cite web|title=20ème anniversaire de l'abolition de la peine de mort en France: Robert Badinter, repères biographiques|trans-title=20th anniversary of the abolition of the death penalty in France: biography of Robert Badinter|url=https://www.senat.fr/evenement/archives/D22/badinter.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303214510/https://www.senat.fr/evenement/archives/D22/badinter.html|archive-date=3 March 2016|access-date=2 December 2020|website=www.senat.fr|language=fr}} 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 was murdered shortly thereafter.{{cite web|last=Ivry|first=Benjamin|date=1 July 2010|title=Robert Badinter, Defender of Life and Liberty|url=https://forward.com/schmooze/129144/robert-badinter-defender-of-life-and-liberty/|url-access=limited|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200924223922/https://forward.com/schmooze/129144/robert-badinter-defender-of-life-and-liberty/|archive-date=24 September 2020|access-date=2 December 2020}}

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.{{Cite web|url=https://icomdp.org/comission/robert-badinter/|title=Robert Badinter – International Commission Against the Death Penalty|access-date=2 April 2021|archive-date=2 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210202213010/https://icomdp.org/comission/robert-badinter/|url-status=live}} In 1965, Badinter was appointed a professor at University of Sorbonne. He continued as an Emeritus professor until 1996.{{Cite web|url=https://www.franceculture.fr/personne-robert-badinter.html|title=Robert Badinter : biographie, actualités et émissions France Culture|website=France Culture|access-date=15 October 2019|archive-date=15 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191015081532/https://www.franceculture.fr/personne-robert-badinter.html|url-status=live}}

Badinter started his career in Paris in 1951, as a lawyer working with Henri Torrès.{{Cite web|url=https://www.fayard.fr/auteurs/robert-badinter|title=Robert Badinter|date=31 March 2021|website=www.fayard.fr|access-date=15 October 2019|archive-date=15 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191015073504/https://www.fayard.fr/auteurs/robert-badinter|url-status=live}}

In 1965, along with Jean-Denis Bredin, he founded the law firm Badinter, Bredin et partenaires, (now Bredin Prat){{Cite web|url=https://www.ecpm.org/en/robert-badinter-the-right-to-life-is-the-most-fundamental-human-right/|title=Robert Badinter: "The right to life is the most fundamental human right"|date=18 June 2016|website=Ensemble contre la peine de mort|access-date=2 April 2021|archive-date=14 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220614042423/https://www.ecpm.org/en/robert-badinter-the-right-to-life-is-the-most-fundamental-human-right/|url-status=dead}}[http://www.bredinprat.fr/en/best-friends "Best Friends"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171116132754/http://www.bredinprat.fr/en/best-friends/ |date=16 November 2017}}, bredinprat where he practiced law until 1981.

Badinter's activism against capital punishment 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. The jury sentenced both men to death. Badinter served as defense counsel for Bontems and was outraged by the sentence. After witnessing the executions, Badinter dedicated himself to the abolition of capital punishment.{{Cite web |date=2021-10-09 |title=Robert Badinter, the lawyer who fought to end the death penalty in France |url=https://www.france24.com/en/france/20211009-robert-badinter-the-lawyer-who-fought-to-end-the-death-penalty-in-france |access-date=2023-01-30 |website=France 24 |language=en |archive-date=30 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230130180925/https://www.france24.com/en/france/20211009-robert-badinter-the-lawyer-who-fought-to-end-the-death-penalty-in-france |url-status=live }}

In this context, he agreed to defend Patrick Henry.{{Cite web |date=2002-10-10 |title=Paying the life penalty |url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/oct/10/worlddispatch.france |access-date=2023-01-30 |website=the Guardian |language=en |archive-date=30 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230130180947/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/oct/10/worlddispatch.france |url-status=live }} In January 1976, eight-year-old Philippe Bertrand was kidnapped. Henry was soon picked up as a suspect, but released because of a lack of evidence. He gave interviews on television, saying that those who kidnapped and killed children deserved death. A few days later, he was arrested again 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 a death sentence. Henry was sentenced to life imprisonment and died months after a compassionate release from prison in 2017 (after receiving parole in 2001, revoked in 2002).{{Cite web |last=Devin |first=Willy Le |title=Patrick Henry, un prisonnier condamné pour l'éternité |url=https://www.liberation.fr/france/2017/12/03/patrick-henry-un-prisonnier-condamne-pour-l-eternite_1614221/ |access-date=2023-01-30 |website=Libération |language=fr |archive-date=30 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230130180935/https://www.liberation.fr/france/2017/12/03/patrick-henry-un-prisonnier-condamne-pour-l-eternite_1614221/ |url-status=live }} The lenient verdict came as a shock, with several publications having already called the outcome as a virtual certainty for execution; according to speculative sources, the critical vote on the death sentence failing by a seven-to-five vote majority.{{Cite news |date=1981-09-19 |title=Les six |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1981/09/19/les-six_2714985_1819218.html |access-date=2024-02-23 |work=Le Monde.fr |language=fr}}{{Cite journal |last=Vimont |first=Jean-Claude |date=2014-02-20 |title=Un ado condamné à mort en 1975. L'affaire Bruno T. au milieu des années soixante-dix |url=https://journals.openedition.org/criminocorpus/2673 |journal=Criminocorpus. Revue d'Histoire de la justice, des crimes et des peines |language=fr |doi=10.4000/criminocorpus.2673 |issn=2108-6907|doi-access=free }} The case of Jerome Carrein, condemned 15 days after Henry's sentence for the murder of a child, was widely dubbed the "revenge of the guillotine".{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2018-01-21 |title=L'affaire Carrein ou «la revanche de la guillotine» |url=https://www.leparisien.fr/faits-divers/l-affaire-carrein-ou-la-revanche-de-la-guillotine-21-01-2018-7514370.php |access-date=2024-02-23 |website=leparisien.fr |language=fr-FR}}{{Cite news |date=1977-06-24 |title=Guillotining of a Killer In France Denounced |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/06/24/archives/guillotining-of-a-killer-in-france-denounced.html |access-date=2024-02-23 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} Until the execution of Gary Gilmore in Utah on 17 January, three days before Henry's verdict, France was the only Western liberal democracy actively performing executions.

Despite president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing's modernist outlook and stated opposition to the guillotine, a further three executions took place during this period, of Christian Ranucci in July 1976, Carrein in June 1977, and Hamida Djandoubi in September 1977. Badinter took no part in arguing either case.{{cite news |last1=Willsher |first1=Kim |title=Valéry Giscard d'Estaing obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/03/valery-giscard-destaing-obituary |access-date=13 February 2024 |work=The Guardian |date=3 December 2020 |archive-date=27 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027172805/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/03/valery-giscard-destaing-obituary |url-status=live }} However, 63% of French voters supported keeping the death penalty at the time it was abolished. In 1980-81, Badinter defended Philippe Maurice, whose sentence of death was confirmed by the superior court in March 1981, weeks before the election of abolitionist François Mitterrand to President.{{cite web |publisher=Death Penalty Research Unit |title=The DPRU honours Robert Badinter (1928–2024) |url=https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/content/news/dpru-honours-robert-badinter-1928-2024 |author=Carolyn Hoyle |date=14 February 2024}}{{Cite web |last=BARRAUD |first=Par Jeanne |date=2024-02-09 |title=Robert Badinter l'a sauvé, voici l'histoire du dernier condamné à mort français, devenu historien - Edition du soir Ouest-France - 09/02/2024 |url=https://www.ouest-france.fr/leditiondusoir/2024-02-09/robert-badinter-l-a-sauve-voici-l-histoire-du-dernier-condamne-a-mort-francais-devenu-historien-c1eb6814-8bed-4f0b-aaff-5e6ecb94d7d3 |access-date=2024-02-23 |website=Ouest-France.fr |language=fr}} A further eight sentences of death were issued before the bill of abolition was passed by the French parliament in September (the last only two days before the Senate voted) but none reached stage of execution and were converted by the abolition act.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1981/09/19/les-six_2714985_1819218.html{{cite web | url=http://cewamale.free.fr/Geneami/condamnations.html | title=Condamnations à mort }} Maurice's sentence, after lobbying from Badinter, was commuted by Mitterrand on May 25, among Mitterrand's first acts as president.{{cite news |newspaper=The Washington Post |title=France Will Retire Its Guillotine and Abolish the Death Penalty |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1981/09/18/france-will-retire-its-guillotine-and-abolish-the-death-penalty/3ab103aa-ebc0-40db-a311-a7525c704a4b/ |author=Edward Cody |date=17 September 1981}}

In 1981, François Mitterrand, a self-professed opponent of the death penalty, was elected president and Badinter was appointed as Minister of Justice. Among his first actions was to introduce a bill to Parliament proposing the abolition of the death penalty for all crimes, both civilian and military. The bill was passed by the Senate after heated debate on 30 September 1981. On 9 October the law was officially enacted, ending capital punishment in France.{{Cite web |date=2021-09-16 |title=Fighting to end death penalty worldwide 40 years after its abolition in France |url=https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20210916-fighting-to-end-death-penalty-worldwide-40-years-after-its-abolition-in-france |access-date=2023-01-30 |publisher=RFI |language=en |archive-date=30 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230130180930/https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20210916-fighting-to-end-death-penalty-worldwide-40-years-after-its-abolition-in-france |url-status=live }}

During his mandate, he also helped abolish "juridictions d'exception{{-"}} ("special courts"), such as the Cour de Sûreté de l'État ("{{Ill|State Security Court (France)|lt=State Security Court|fr|Cour de sûreté de l'État (France)}}") and the military courts,{{Cite web |date=9 January 1989 |title=EUROPEAN HUMAN RIGHTS PRIZE |url=https://rm.coe.int/09000016807ab212 |access-date=11 February 2024 |publisher=Council of Europe |page=9}} and improved the rights of victims of crime.

He remained a minister until February 1986.

File:Robert Badinter, 2007 (cropped).jpg

From March 1986 to March 1995, he was president of the French Constitutional Council. From 1995 to 2011, he served as a senator, representing the Hauts-de-Seine département.[http://www.senat.fr/senateur/badinter_robert95006b.html Robert Badinter] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220326202650/http://www.senat.fr/senateur/badinter_robert95006b.html |date=26 March 2022 }}, senat.fr

In 1989, he participated in an edition of the Antenne 2 talk show Apostrophes devoted to human rights, together with the 14th Dalai Lama. Discussing the disappearance of Tibetan culture from Tibet, Badinter used the term "cultural genocide".[http://www.ina.fr/archivespourtous/index.php?vue=notice&from=fulltext&full=Salonique&num_notice=5&total_notices=8 Les droits de l'homme Apostrophes, A2 – 21 April 1989 – 01h25m56s] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081128154820/http://www.ina.fr/archivespourtous/index.php?vue=notice |date=28 November 2008 }}, Web site of the INA He praised the example of Tibetan nonviolent resistance.[http://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/monde/badinter-la-non-violence-tibetaine-est-exemplaire_471273.html Badinter: "La non- violence tibétaine est exemplaire"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110205113456/http://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/monde/badinter-la-non-violence-tibetaine-est-exemplaire_471273.html |date=5 February 2011 }}, lexpress.fr; accessed 12 March 2017. Badinter met with the Dalai Lama many times, in particular in 1998 when he greeted him as the "Champion of Human Rights",{{Cite web|url=http://www.tibet.fr/old/letter_december_98.htm|title=Letter December 98|website=www.tibet.fr|access-date=30 January 2009|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304032753/http://www.tibet.fr/old/letter_december_98.htm|url-status=dead}} and again in 2008.[http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/speciales/les_jo_de_pekin_2008/20080813.OBS7234/le_dalai_lama_affirme_que_la_chine_ne_respecte_pas_la_t.html "Badinter and Dalai Lama"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080822143622/http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/speciales/les_jo_de_pekin_2008/20080813.OBS7234/le_dalai_lama_affirme_que_la_chine_ne_respecte_pas_la_t.html |date=22 August 2008 }}, Nouvel Observateur; accessed 12 March 2017.

In 1991, Badinter was appointed by the Council of Ministers of the European Community as a member of the Arbitration Commission of the Peace Conference on Yugoslavia. He was elected as president of the commission by the four other members, all presidents of constitutional courts in the European Community. The Arbitration Commission has rendered eleven pieces of advice regarding "major legal questions" arising from the split of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.[https://www.un.org/News/dh/hlpanel/badinter-bio.htm Curriculum vitae of Robert Badinter] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190420220212/https://www.un.org/News/dh/hlpanel/badinter-bio.htm |date=20 April 2019 }}, un.org; accessed 12 March 2017.

Badinter was the first president of the Court of Conciliation and Arbitration of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) following its creation in 1995; he served in that position until 2013.{{cite web |url=https://www.osce.org/node/450118 |title=Robert Badinter – First President of the Court (1995–2013) |publisher=OSCE |accessdate=2022-11-24 |archive-date=24 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221124150508/https://www.osce.org/node/450118 |url-status=live }}

Badinter opposed the accession of Turkey to the European Union, on the grounds that Turkey might not be able to follow the rules of the Union. He was also concerned about the nation's location, saying: "We'll have, we Europeans, common borders with Georgia, Armenia, Iran, Iraq and Syria. I am asking you: What justifies our common borders with these countries? What justifies that we'd get involved in the most dangerous areas of the world?"{{Cite web |last=Fleishman |first=Jeffrey |date=2004-12-16 |title=Turkey Is Knocking, but EU Is Hesitating |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-dec-16-fg-euroturk16-story.html |access-date=2024-02-12 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US |archive-date=6 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506052345/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-dec-16-fg-euroturk16-story.html |url-status=live }}

As a head of the Arbitration Commission, he gained high respect among Macedonians and other ethnic groups in the Republic of Macedonia because he recommended "that the use of the name 'Macedonia' cannot therefore imply any territorial claim against another State".For that judgement implying that Republic of Macedonia could unconditionally be admitted to International Organizations he was awarded with the title "Macedonian Senator" by the World Macedonian Congress in 2004. [http://makedonskosonce.com/old.makedonskosonce.com/broevis/2004/sonce501.pdf/16_20_pariz.pdf]. He supported full recognition of the Republic in 1992.{{Cite web|url=http://www.ejil.org/journal/Vol4/No1/art8-02.html|title=Recognition of States: Annex 3|date=15 February 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050215223455/http://www.ejil.org/journal/Vol4/No1/art8-02.html|archive-date=15 February 2005}} He was involved in drafting the so-called Ohrid Agreement in the Republic of Macedonia.{{Cite journal |last=Reka |first=Blerim |date=2014-01-01 |title=The Ohrid Peace Process: The Past, the Present, and the Future Perspective |journal=Comparative Southeast European Studies |language=en |volume=62 |issue=1 |pages=19–33 |doi=10.1515/soeu-2014-620103 |issn=2701-8202}} This agreement was based on the principle that ethnic-related proposals passed by the national assembly (and later to be applied to actions of city councils and other local government bodies) should be supported by a double majority of both Macedonian and Albanian ethnic groups. This is often called the "Badinter principle".{{Cite journal |last=Navari |first=Cornelia |date=2014 |title=Territoriality, self-determination and Crimea after Badinter |journal=International Affairs |volume=90 |issue=6 |pages=1299–1318 |doi=10.1111/1468-2346.12171 |jstor=24538667 |issn=0020-5850}}

In 2009, Badinter expressed dismay at the Pope's lifting of the excommunication of controversial English Catholic bishop Richard Williamson, who had expressed Holocaust denial and was illegally consecrated a bishop.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nouvelobs.com/societe/20090202.OBS2742/eveque-negationniste-robert-badinter-s-indigne.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120715121218/http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/societe/20090202.OBS2742/eveque-negationniste-robert-badinter-s-indigne.html|url-status=dead|title=Evêque négationniste : Robert Badinter s'indigne|website=L'Obs|archive-date=15 July 2012}} The Pope reactivated the excommunication later.{{Cite web |date=2015-03-20 |title=Scomunicato il vescovo negazionista monsignor Williamson |url=https://www.ilgiornale.it/news/cronache/scomunicato-vescovo-negazionista-monsignor-williamson-1107348.html |access-date=2021-06-30 |website=Il Giornale |language=it |archive-date=10 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240110013448/https://www.ilgiornale.it/news/cronache/scomunicato-vescovo-negazionista-monsignor-williamson-1107348.html |url-status=live }}

Badinter was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2009.{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Robert+Badinter&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|access-date=2021-04-23|website=search.amphilsoc.org|archive-date=23 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423150436/https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Robert+Badinter&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|url-status=live}}

Badinter served as an Honorary Co-Chair for the World Justice Project. It works to lead a global, multidisciplinary effort to strengthen the rule of law for the development of communities of opportunity and equity.{{cite web|url=http://worldjusticeproject.com/about/|title=About|access-date=23 February 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100203064233/http://www.worldjusticeproject.com/about/|archive-date=3 February 2010}}

At the start of the case of Dominique Strauss-Kahn in 2011, in which the IMF Managing Director was accused of rape and was arrested by the police in New York City, Robert Badinter reacted by saying to France Inter that he was outraged by the "media killing" and denounced the "failure of an entire system" inherent in the perp walk of Strauss-Kahn, a suspect, but also of the media judging an assumed culprit's guilt for charges that had not initiated a trial, and which were eventually dismissed.{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/dec/10/dominique-strauss-kahn-case-settled |title=Dominique Strauss-Kahn settles sexual assault case with hotel maid |newspaper=The Guardian |date=10 December 2012 |access-date=12 May 2021 |archive-date=26 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220126172216/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/dec/10/dominique-strauss-kahn-case-settled |url-status=live |last1=Williams |first1=Matt }}{{Cite web |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-57114220110518 |title=Perp walk? Blame Giuliani |website=Reuters |access-date=12 May 2021 |archive-date=12 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210512105733/https://www.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-57114220110518 |url-status=dead }}{{Cite magazine |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/88598/strauss-kahn-levy-daniel-badinter-imf |title=An Indefensible Defense |magazine=The New Republic |date=17 May 2011 |access-date=12 May 2021 |archive-date=12 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210512121458/https://newrepublic.com/article/88598/strauss-kahn-levy-daniel-badinter-imf |url-status=live |last1=Rieff |first1=David }}{{Cite news |last=Reddy |first=Sudeep |title=Strauss-Kahn Resigns From IMF |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703509104576331623409445148?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories |access-date=2024-02-23 |work=WSJ |language=en-US}} Strauss-Kahn had been a favoured Socialist candidate for the presidential election the following April, but dropped all pretences of running after his arrest.

Badinter married philosopher and feminist writer Élisabeth Bleustein-Blanchet, daughter of Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet, who was the founder of Publicis, a multinational advertising and public relations company. He died in Paris during the night of 8 to 9 February 2024, at the age of 95.{{cite news |title=Décès de Robert Badinter |url=https://www.gouvernement.fr/actualite/deces-de-robert-badinter |access-date=9 February 2024 |work=Gouvernement.fr |date=9 February 2024 |archive-date=10 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240210104550/https://www.gouvernement.fr/actualite/deces-de-robert-badinter |url-status=live}}[https://www.lemonde.fr/disparitions/article/2024/02/09/robert-badinter-est-mort_6215627_3382.html Robert Badinter est mort] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240209113612/https://www.lemonde.fr/disparitions/article/2024/02/09/robert-badinter-est-mort_6215627_3382.html |date=9 February 2024 }} {{in lang|fr}} President Macron later announced Badinter would be honored with burial in the Panthéon.{{Cite web |date=2024-02-14 |title=France pays tribute to Badinter, ex-justice minister who fought to abolish death penalty |url=https://www.france24.com/en/france/20240214-france-to-pay-tribute-to-badinter-french-ex-minister-who-fought-to-abolish-death-penalty |access-date=2024-02-14 |website=France 24 |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2024-02-14 |title=France pays tribute to Badinter, minister who won fight to end death penalty |url=https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20240214-france-pays-tribute-to-badinter-minister-who-won-fight-to-end-death-penalty |access-date=2024-02-14 |website=RFI |language=en}}

Badinter refused any honorary distinction from the National Order of the Legion of Honor (as did his wife) and the Ordre National du Mérite. He nevertheless received foreign decorations, notably the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (Czech Republic) in 2001.{{Cite web |url=https://www.hrad.cz/cs/ceska-republika/statni-vyznamenani/rad-t.-g.-masaryka/seznam-vyznamenanych |title=Seznam vyznamenaných |access-date=11 May 2021 |archive-date=9 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171109022703/https://www.hrad.cz/cs/ceska-republika/statni-vyznamenani/rad-t.-g.-masaryka/seznam-vyznamenanych |url-status=live }} and the Order 8-September (North Macedonia) in 2006.{{Cite web |url=https://balkaninsight.com/2013/12/06/macedonia-decorates-hungary-s-scandalous-prime-minister/ |title=Hungarian PM Gets Macedonia's Top Award |date=6 December 2013 |access-date=11 May 2021 |archive-date=30 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210430045250/https://balkaninsight.com/2013/12/06/macedonia-decorates-hungary-s-scandalous-prime-minister/ |url-status=live }} As a longstanding activist for the abolition of the death penalty, Robert Badinter was appointed an honorary member of the International Commission Against the Death Penalty. He was awarded the International Abolition Award by Death Penalty Focus in 2023.{{Cite web |last=Delucco |first=Mary Kate |date=2024-02-09 |title="The death penalty must disappear from the entire world as it is a shame for humanity." |url=https://deathpenalty.org/the-death-penalty-must-disappear-from-the-entire-world-as-it-is-a-shame-for-humanity/ |access-date=2024-03-03 |website=Death Penalty FOCUS |language=en-US}}

:Political appointments:

:* President of the Constitutional Council: 1986–1995.

:* Minister of Justice: 1981–1986 (resigned upon appointment as president of the Constitutional Council).

:Elected office:

:* Senator for Hauts-de-Seine: 1995–2011. Elected in 1995, reelected in 2004.{{Cite web |date=2024-02-11 |title=BADINTER Robert |url=https://www.senat.fr/senateur/badinter_robert95006b.html |access-date=2024-02-12 |website=Sénat |language=fr-FR |archive-date=21 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231021073604/https://www.senat.fr/senateur/badinter_robert95006b.html |url-status=live }}

• L'exécution (1973), about the trial of Claude Buffet and Roger Bontems{{Cite news |last1=Cohen |first1=Roger |last2=Breeden |first2=Aurelien |date=2024-02-09 |title=Robert Badinter, Who Won Fight to End Death Penalty in France, Dies at 95 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/09/world/europe/robert-badinter-dead.html |access-date=2024-02-12 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=12 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240212073149/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/09/world/europe/robert-badinter-dead.html |url-status=live }}
• Condorcet, 1743–1794 (1988), co-authored with Élisabeth Badinter.{{Cite journal |last=McClellan |first=James E. |date=October 1990 |title=ELISABETH BADINTER and ROBERT BADINTER. Condorcet (1743–1794): Un Intellectuel en politique. Paris: Fayard. 1988. Pp. 658. 140 fr |journal=The American Historical Review |volume=95 |issue=4 |page=1207 |doi=10.1086/ahr/95.4.1207 |issn=1937-5239}}
• Une autre justice (1989){{Cite web |date=1981-06-23 |title=Disparition de Robert Badinter |url=https://www.gazette-du-palais.fr/actualites-professionnelles/disparition-de-robert-badinter/ |access-date=2024-02-12 |website=Gazette du Palais |language=fr-FR}}
• Libres et égaux : L'émancipation des Juifs (1789–1791) (1989){{Cite journal |last=Sibelman |first=Simon P. |date=1990 |title=Review of Libres et éqaux: l'émancipation des Juifs, 1789–1791 |journal=The French Review |volume=64 |issue=1 |pages=184–186 |jstor=395705 |issn=0016-111X}}
• La prison républicaine, 1871–1914 (1992)
• Un antisémitisme ordinaire (1997){{Cite journal |last=Simonin |first=Anne |date=1997 |title=Review of Un antisémitisme ordinaire. Vichy et les avocats juifs (1940–944) |journal=Le Mouvement Social |issue=180 |pages=226–229 |doi=10.2307/3779372 |jstor=3779372 |issn=0027-2671|doi-access=free }}
• L'abolition (2000), recounting his fight for the abolition of the death penalty in France{{Cite journal |last=Rogoff |first=Martin A. |date=2008 |editor-last=Badinter |editor-first=Robert |title=For the Abolition of the Death Penalty in America: The Advocacy of Robert Badinter |journal=Human Rights Quarterly |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=772–796 |doi=10.1353/hrq.0.0023 |jstor=20072868 |s2cid=145617278 |issn=0275-0392}}
• Une constitution européenne (2002){{Cite journal |last1=Badinter |first1=Robert |last2=Garapon |first2=Antoine |last3=Padis |first3=Marc-Olivier |date=2003 |title=Une constitution pour l'Europe: Entretien avec Robert Badinter |journal=Esprit |volume=291 |issue=1 |pages=33–41 |jstor=24469869 |issn=0014-0759}}
• Le rôle du juge dans la société moderne (2003)
• Contre la peine de mort (2006)
• Les épines et les roses (2011), on his failures and successes as Minister of Justice{{Cite magazine |date=2024-02-09 |title=Robert Badinter: quand la droite fustigeait la nomination de "l'avocat des assassins" |url=https://www.vanityfair.fr/article/robert-badinter-quand-la-droite-fustigeait-la-nomination-de-lavocat-des-assassins |access-date=2024-02-12 |magazine=Vanity Fair |language=fr-FR}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.senat.fr/senfic/badinter_robert95006b.html Official page of Robert Badinter in the French Senate]
• {{In lang|fr|cap=yes}} [http://www.senat.fr/senfic/badinter_robert95006b.html La page de Robert Badinter sur le site du Sénat]
• {{In lang|fr|cap=yes}} [http://archives.tsr.ch/search?q_doc-id=ecoles-peinemort Vidéo: Robert Badinter] en 1976, il motive son engagement contre la peine de mort, une archive de la Télévision suisse romande
• {{In lang|fr|cap=yes}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20080414122616/http://www.uhb.fr/jsp/fiche_actualite.jsp?STNAV=&RUBNAV=&CODE=1207921682117&LANGUE=0&RH=PAGELIBRE UHB Rennes II : Autour de l'oeuvre de Robert Badinter: Éthique et justice. Synergie des savoirs et des compétences et perspectives d'application en psychocriminologie. "journées d'étude les 22 et 23 mai 2008 à l'université Rennes 2, sur le thème 'Autour de l'œuvre de Robert Badinter: Éthique et justice{{'"}}], uhb.fr; accessed 12 March 2017. {{in lang|fr}}

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{{succession box|title=Minister of Justice|before=Maurice Faure|after=Michel Crépeau|years=1981–1986}}

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{{s-bef|before=Daniel Mayer}}

{{s-ttl|title=President of the Constitutional Council|years=1986–1995}}

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{{S-end}}{{Minister of Justice (France)}}{{Yugoslav Wars}}

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Category:1928 births

Category:2024 deaths

Category:20th-century French Jews

Category:Columbia University alumni

Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Category:French anti–death penalty activists

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Category:Ministers of justice of France

Category:French people of Moldovan-Jewish descent

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Category:Human Rights League (France) members

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Category:Politicians from Paris

Category:Recipients of the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, 1st class

Category:Senators of Hauts-de-Seine

Category:Socialist Party (France) politicians

Category:Tibet freedom activists

Category:University of Paris alumni

Category:Members of the Constitutional Council (France)