Guillotine Could Return in France
France may be forced to consider bringing back the guillotine for terrorists if the current wave of political violence continues, Justice Minister Albin Chalandon said in an interview published Friday.
“If terrorism continues to grow, we cannot rule out a new debate on reintroducing the death penalty for terrorists,” the minister told the daily Ouest-France.
Ten people have died and more than 160 were injured in Paris last month during a wave of bomb blasts aimed at forcing France to release three Middle Eastern prisoners jailed in connection with political violence.
France abolished the death penalty in 1981 and is bound not to bring back the guillotine for five years under the European Convention on Human Rights, which it ratified in November last year.
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