Robert Badinter, who led France to end the death penalty and fought Holocaust denial, has died at 95

By ANGELA CHARLTON
Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — Robert Badinter, who spearheaded the drive to abolish France’s death penalty, has died. He also fought antisemitism and Holocaust denial and led a European body dealing with the legal fallout of the breakup of Yugoslavia. He was 95. French President Emmanuel Macron hailed Badinter as a ‘’figure of the century’’ who ‘’never ceased to advocate for the ideas of the Enlightenment.’’ The French Justice Ministry confirmed Badinter’s death, without providing details. Badinter was best known for his push to end capital punishment, in 1981. He described seeing one of his own clients lose his head to a guillotine, used up until the 1970s to kill criminals in France.