Robert Badinter, former Minister of Justice under François Mitterrand who led the abolition of the death penalty in France, died during the night from Thursday to Friday. The son of a furrier, born in Paris on March 30, 1928 in a Jewish family who emigrated from Bessarabia (now Moldova) He became a lawyer at the Paris bar and at the same time pursued a career as a university teacher.
He was considered by some as the "assassins' lawyer" and was the target of all attacks when he voted for the abolition.