1. Robert Badinter served in high-level appointed positions with national and international bodies working for justice and the rule of law.
26 Facts About Robert Badinter
1. 2.
Robert Badinter was born on 30 March 1928, in Paris to Simon Badinter and Charlotte Rosenberg.
3.
Robert Badinter's father was captured in the 1943 Rue Sainte-Catherine Roundup and deported with other Jews to the Sobibor extermination camp, where he was murdered shortly thereafter.
4.
Robert Badinter then went to the United States to continue his studies at Columbia University in New York City, where he got his MA.
5.
Robert Badinter continued his studies again at the Sorbonne until 1954.
6.
In 1965, Robert Badinter was appointed a professor at University of Sorbonne.
7.
Robert Badinter started his career in Paris in 1951, as a lawyer working with Henri Torres.
8.
Robert Badinter served as defense counsel for Bontems and was outraged by the sentence.
9.
Robert Badinter gave interviews on television, saying that those who kidnapped and killed children deserved death.
10.
Badinter and Robert Bocquillon defended Henry, making the case not about Henry's guilt, but against a death sentence.
11.
In 1981, Francois Mitterrand, a self-professed opponent of the death penalty, was elected president and Robert Badinter was appointed as Minister of Justice.
12.
Robert Badinter met with the Dalai Lama many times, in particular in 1998 when he greeted him as the "Champion of Human Rights", and again in 2008.
13.
In 1991, Robert Badinter was appointed by the Council of Ministers of the European Community as a member of the Arbitration Commission of the Peace Conference on Yugoslavia.
14.
Robert Badinter was elected as president of the commission by the four other members, all presidents of constitutional courts in the European Community.
15.
Robert Badinter was the first president of the Court of Conciliation and Arbitration of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe following its creation in 1995; he served in that position until 2013.
16.
Robert Badinter opposed the accession of Turkey to the European Union, on the grounds that Turkey might not be able to follow the rules of the Union.
17.
Robert Badinter supported full recognition of the Republic in 1992.
18.
Robert Badinter was involved in drafting the so-called Ohrid Agreement in the Republic of Macedonia.
19.
Robert Badinter was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2009.
20.
Robert Badinter served as an Honorary Co-Chair for the World Justice Project.
21.
Robert Badinter married philosopher and feminist writer Elisabeth Bleustein-Blanchet, daughter of Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet, who was the founder of Publicis, a multinational advertising and public relations company.
22.
Robert Badinter died in Paris during the night of 8 to 9 February 2024, at the age of 95.
23.
President Macron later announced Robert Badinter would be honored with burial in the Pantheon.
24.
Robert Badinter refused any honorary distinction from the National Order of the Legion of Honor and the Ordre National du Merite.
25.
Robert Badinter nevertheless received foreign decorations, notably the Order of Tomas Garrigue Masaryk in 2001.
26.
Robert Badinter was awarded the International Abolition Award by Death Penalty Focus in 2023.