Robert Badinter

Robert Badinter (French pronunciation: [ʁɔbɛʁ badɛ̃tɛʁ]; 30 March 1928 – 9 February 2024) was a French lawyer, politician, and author who enacted the abolition of capital punishment in France in 1981, while serving as Minister of Justice under François Mitterrand. He also served in high-level appointed positions with national and international bodies working for justice and the rule of law.

Early life

Robert Badinter was born on 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, then near Chambéry after his father was captured by the Gestapo in the 1943 Rue Sainte-Catherine Roundup. Simon was then deported with other Jews to the Sobibor extermination camp, where he was murdered 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 a professor at University of Sorbonne. He continued as an Emeritus professor until 1996.

Political career

Beginnings

Badinter started his career in Paris in 1951, as a lawyer working with Henry Torrès. In 1965, along with Jean-Denis Bredin, he founded the law firm Badinter, Bredin et partenaires, (now Bredin Prat) where he practised law until 1981.