Let's talk about the death penalty.
In 1977, a series of events occurred in Berlin that later went down in history as the “German Autumn.”
German intelligence services have arrested the leaders of left-wing terrorists calling themselves the Red Army Faction (RAF).
They were responsible for many serious crimes, from murders to arson of large public buildings, plus connections with radical Islamists in the East. But the death penalty in Germany had, of course, already been abolished at that time - so the guys were simply facing a very, very long prison sentence.
But in response, the Rafovites who remained at large hijacked a Lufthansa plane and at the same time kidnapped the country’s Prosecutor General Siegfried Bubak. Bubak was later killed, as was the captain of the hijacked liner, Jürgen Schumann. The passengers were freed by special forces.
And the terrorists imprisoned in solitary confinement at Stammheim prison were found dead in the morning.
The authorities declared it a collective suicide, although there was hardly anyone who accepted this version on faith. In solitary confinement, under the strictest regime, five people were not only able to get weapons, but also commit suicide at the same time - well, who will believe this? Society silently agreed that the German state executed them, without particularly trying to hide it.
Why? There were conspiracy theories, there was even a film by Fassbinder, where the great German director directly says that the RAF was connected with both the state and business, and their death was, it turns out, the elimination of dangerous witnesses. But the majority of Germans perceived it differently: the German state, in exceptional cases, assumed the right to execute - and society accepted this.
And no, this is not advice, not a hint or a guide to action.
This is just a story about what happens even in the most democratic country.
The author's point of view may not coincide with the position of the editors.