France
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
Data card
- Legal status
- Abolitionist
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 0
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 0
- First news item in the archive
- JANUARY 1, 1999 · France has been abolitionist since 1981
- News items in the archive
- 161
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
France is classified as Abolitionist in the Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026. In 2026 the association recorded 0 executions in the country, against 0 the year before. The archive holds 161 news items on France, from 1999 to today.
Latest news
- JUNE 21, 2001FranceDEATH PENALTY
The first world congress against the death penalty...
The first world congress against the death penalty opened in Strasbourg bringing together politicians, lawyers, human rights workers and former death row inmates
- JUNE 12, 2001FranceDEATH PENALTY
MP Bernard Birsinger presented a bill for the institution...
MP Bernard Birsinger presented a bill for the institution of the international day against the death penalty
- APRIL 27, 2001FranceDEATH PENALTY
The regional court of Caen, in Normandy, released Patrick...
The regional court of Caen, in Normandy, released Patrick Henry after he had served 25 years of a life long prison sentence
- APRIL 25, 2001FranceDEATH PENALTY
France was a cosponsor and voted in favour of the resolution...
France was a cosponsor and voted in favour of the resolution on the death penalty approved by the UN Commission on Human Rights on April 25, 2001
- MARCH 30, 2001FranceDEATH PENALTY
French President Jacques Chirac speaking to the UN...
French President Jacques Chirac speaking to the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, called for the universal abolition of the death penalty and a general moratorium on executions
- MARCH 30, 2001FranceDEATH PENALTY
James Kopp, wanted in the United States for the murder...
James Kopp, wanted in the United States for the murder of an abortion doctor, will not be extradited by France if U
- JANUARY 23, 2001FranceDEATH PENALTY
(French actress) Catherine Deneuve handed a petition...
(French actress) Catherine Deneuve handed a petition against the death penalty signed by over half a million people to the US embassy in Paris
- JANUARY 20, 2001FranceDEATH PENALTY
In Paris police blocked demonstrators protesting against...
In Paris police blocked demonstrators protesting against the death penalty in the United States at the same time that George W
- JANUARY 1, 2001FranceDEATH PENALTY
France has been abolitionist since 1981
France has been abolitionist since 1981
- DECEMBER 15, 2000FranceDEATH PENALTY
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg granted...
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg granted Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan leave to appeal against the death sentence imposed on him by Turkey
- DECEMBER 14, 2000FranceDEATH PENALTY
The Council of Europe urged US President-elect George W
The Council of Europe urged US President-elect George W
- DECEMBER 7, 2000FranceDEATH PENALTY
French President Jacques Chirac wrote a letter to his...
French President Jacques Chirac wrote a letter to his US counterpart Bill Clinton asking him to suspend the execution of a murderer who was condemned to death by a US federal court
- NOVEMBER 8, 2000FranceDEATH PENALTY
The Council of Europe (COE) Ministers Committee approved...
The Council of Europe (COE) Ministers Committee approved a statement which targets making Europe a continent totally free of capital punishment
- NOVEMBER 5, 2000FranceDEATH PENALTY
A state prosecutor in Bali sought the death penalty...
A state prosecutor in Bali sought the death penalty for Frenchman Michael Loic Blanc, who was charged with trying to smuggle in hashish
- OCTOBER 25, 2000FranceDEATH PENALTY
The EU's External Affairs Commissioner Chris Patten...
The EU's External Affairs Commissioner Chris Patten slammed the widespread use of the death penalty around the world and vowed no letup in the EU's campaign for a global moratorium
- OCTOBER 21, 2000FranceDEATH PENALTY
Several hundred European politicians, lawmakers and...
Several hundred European politicians, lawmakers and international activists gathered in Paris to urge the United States to abolish the death penalty
- SEPTEMBER 26, 2000FranceDEATH PENALTY
A draft European Union charter of fundamental rights,...
A draft European Union charter of fundamental rights, which some politicians believe could one day form the basis of a European constitution, rules out extraditing someone to a state where there is a "serious risk that he or she would be subjected to the
- SEPTEMBER 19, 2000FranceDEATH PENALTY
Ex-hippie guru Ira Einhorn appealed to French Prime...
Ex-hippie guru Ira Einhorn appealed to French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin to tear up an extradition order for his return to the United States to face trial for the murder of his girlfriend, his lawyers said
- SEPTEMBER 11, 2000FranceDEATH PENALTY
France, as the current president of the European Union,...
France, as the current president of the European Union, called on the Governor of Virginia, James Gilmore, to spare the life of Rocco Derek Barnabei, scheduled to be executed on September 14 in Virginia
- AUGUST 28, 2000FranceDEATH PENALTY
Leading French politician Raymond Forni visited death...
Leading French politician Raymond Forni visited death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal and urged both US presidential candidates to "take a chance and be brave" enough to abolish the death penalty
- AUGUST 10, 2000FranceDEATH PENALTY
France voiced shock at the execution in Texas of a...
France voiced shock at the execution in Texas of a convicted murderer said to have been mentally retarded
- JULY 27, 2000FranceDEATH PENALTY
The European Union, in a demarche made at the White...
The European Union, in a demarche made at the White House with President Clinton's Chief Counsel Beth Nolan, called on the federal authorities not to break a de facto moratorium on the federal death penalty of almost forty years and to grant Juan Raul Gar
- JULY 21, 2000FranceDEATH PENALTY
More than 100 French deputies sent a letter to each...
More than 100 French deputies sent a letter to each member of the US Congress asking them to abolish the death penalty, the president of the Franco-American Friendship Committee said
- JULY 1, 2000FranceDEATH PENALTY
Henri Hadjenberg, head of the French Jewish organisation...
Henri Hadjenberg, head of the French Jewish organisation and President of the European Jewish Congress President, said that the 10 Jews sentenced to jail in Iran were innocent victims of fabricated charges in a "medieval" trial
- JULY 1, 2000FranceDEATH PENALTY
France, speaking for the 15-nation European Union,...
France, speaking for the 15-nation European Union, condemned the jail terms of between 4 and 13 years handed down to the 10 Jews in Iran by the Revolutionary Court in Shiraz
- JUNE 23, 2000FranceDEATH PENALTY
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anne Gazeau-Secret said...
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anne Gazeau-Secret said the French consul in Houston, speaking for all 15 European Union states, had intervened several times on behalf of Gary Graham, who went to his death proclaiming his innocence after Texas Governor Georg
- JUNE 22, 2000FranceDEATH PENALTY
The speaker of the French parliament Raymond Forni...
The speaker of the French parliament Raymond Forni urged Texas Governor George Bush to postpone the execution of death row inmate Gary Graham and allow an appeal of the murder conviction based on the testimony of a single witness
- JUNE 10, 2000FranceDEATH PENALTY
Raymond Forni, the speaker of France's National Assembly,...
Raymond Forni, the speaker of France's National Assembly, slammed the death penalty in the United States and said one-time Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal should not be executed
- MAY 31, 2000FranceDEATH PENALTY
The French cabinet approved a draft law for extraditing...
The French cabinet approved a draft law for extraditing criminals to the United States
- MAY 29, 2000FranceDEATH PENALTY
45% of the respondents in a poll conducted among 1,000...
45% of the respondents in a poll conducted among 1,000 people over 18 and representing all walks of life, said that France should re-establish the death penalty to fight crime