Robert Badinter: 'One of the giants' of French politics
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00:00 Watching the ceremony with me a short while ago was Marc Perelman, our French
00:03 politics editor. And Marc, we got a sense of sort of the atmosphere at Place Vendome
00:09 from Antonia there, but just give us the bigger picture here. Why was he such a
00:15 celebrated individual? Why was he honoured in this way today? Because
00:18 certainly not every justice minister gets that after they die. No justice
00:23 minister ever got such a tribute and the promise that he'll be laid to rest in
00:28 the Pantheon just immediately after his death this week. Yes, Robert Badinter is
00:35 probably one of the last giants as a lawyer, as a politician, as a human rights
00:40 activist in his way. And this is why there's a lot of talk about ethics,
00:47 morals and so on, because he made the fight to abolish the death penalty
00:54 something that was deeply personal, but he made it into a major, major fight here
01:01 in France, where he abolished the death penalty in 1981 as justice minister,
01:06 despite strong, vivid and sometimes personal opposition. And after he retired
01:13 from politics, he also was very involved in trying to abolish the death penalty
01:19 around the world. And President Macron vowed that he would try to pursue this
01:25 agenda after the passing of Robert Badinter. So you had this very, very rare
01:31 mix of a lawyer, a politician, someone who had a tragic personal history, because he
01:38 came from what is now Moldova in Eastern Europe. His father was sent to a death
01:44 camp, never came back. In 1943, he was hidden by some French citizens. So he saw
01:52 both the dark side of World War II with his father being deported, but also the
01:57 bright side with people saving his life, allowing him to become who he would
02:02 become. So he was someone special. He was also married to Elisabeth Badinter,
02:09 also a very well-known philosopher, advocate for women, very well known here
02:17 in France. So they had this kind of gravitas. Some people were
02:24 really listening to them, even from younger generations, because they're
02:28 obviously quite old, both of them. So this is why you had this very, very rare
02:34 tribute. First of all, the location in front of the justice minister. Normally
02:39 it's at the Invalides, where those national tributes are paid, but also having this
02:45 ceremony with the tribute by the president and all those clappings you
02:51 heard. This is not very usual, but this in a way symbolizes a man who was haunted
02:56 by death, but decided to choose life. Quite an individual indeed. Thank you
03:01 very much. Mark Powerman for us there, our French politics editor.