Robert Badinter confided at length to Christophe Hondelatte and told him about the crusade he led against the death penalty. In the first episode, available in podcast (and below), the former Minister of Justice recounts his failure during the trial of Roger Bontems. This former soldier, convicted after a deadly hostage-taking in the Clairvaux power station in 1972, had been executed. "I have a feeling it was played in advance," he recalls. "I admire this kind of blindness of confidence that I had in an outcome which, I thought, could be favorable, that is to say, remove the death penalty," said Robert Badinter. The lawyer recognizes a form of naivety: "I was young and I had understood nothing."
Listen to the first episode again:
>> Find all of Christophe Hondelatte's stories in replay and podcast here
An "exceptional story"
Not spilling much today on judicial matters, Robert Badinter nevertheless agreed to return to the two major trials that forged his fight against the death penalty: those of Roger Bontems and Patrick Henry. An "exceptional story", according to Christophe Hondelatte.
Robert Badinter fails to save Roger Bontems, executed in the prison of Health. "Chance is that a few years later, in the same assize court where he saw Bontemps sentenced to death, he will get to save the head of Patrick Henry, facing the same general counsel," explains Christophe Hondelatte.
The host of Europe 1 adds: "I built my story from two of his books, with his words, trying never to betray them."