Thierry Dagiral, edited by Solène Leroux 4:23 p.m., October 09, 2021
Guest of Europe Midi this Saturday, Anne Denis, head of the Abolition of the Death Penalty Commission for Amnesty International, returned to the importance of the continuity of the fight in the rest of the world.
She also castigated the voices rising for the return of the death penalty in France, of the order of the impossible according to her.
INTERVIEW
A long-standing struggle. If the death penalty has been abolished in France for 40 years, this is not the case on the whole planet. Anne Denis, head of the Abolition of the Death Penalty Commission at Amnesty International, reminded him at the microphone of Thierry Dagiral, in Europe Midi this Saturday. In 1977, when the organization received the Nobel Peace Prize, Amnesty International organized a conference in Stockholm, Sweden, "in which it made a declaration for the universal abolition of the death penalty", position that she has held since. Today, there are 55 countries which have the death penalty in their law, even if in fact "about twenty execute per year" explains the person responsible.
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Amnesty International is launching a large poster campaign in France in several French cities.
"In France, we don't know the death penalty, we don't really know what it is, so we always think it's over," recalls Anne Denis.
This campaign is aimed mainly at young people, "so that they know that petty crimes in France can lead to the death penalty in some countries".
This is particularly the case in Nigeria, where one can be executed if one steals from a store, or if one drinks on public roads.
"We want to educate young people to tell them that the fight is not over," she explains.
The impossible questioning of abolition in France
While possible presidential candidates question the abolition of the death penalty in France, Amnesty International is not worried. Beyond the fact that it is in the Constitution, the abolition of the death penalty is protected by international treaties signed by France, in particular "the protocol of the Council of Europe, the Charter of the European Union and a UN protocol ". From the moment these treaties have been ratified by France, "we cannot go back", insists Anne Denis. Regarding Éric Zemmour, whom he declared himself in favor of the death penalty, the person in charge was inflexible: "To say 'philosophically, I am for the death penalty', that simply means' philosophically,I am for revenge and not for justice '. "