Robert Badinter, who died on Friday, February 9 at the age of 95, will be inducted into the Panthéon, the mausoleum where France honors its great figures. His family gave their agreement in principle on Wednesday, prior to the ceremony paying tribute to the former justice minister who abolished the death penalty. During his life, this "moral conscience" had refused all decorations, but President Emmanuel Macron first raised the possibility of his pantheonization as early as last Friday morning, as soon as news of his death had broken. After a series of exchanges with the family (a "dialogue," as the president's entourage preferred to put it), the announcement was made at the end of the ceremony, and greeted by the applause of the hundreds of people gathered behind the barriers to pay tribute.

"Your name will be inscribed alongside those who have done so much for human progress and for France, and who are waiting for you to join them," said the president, who since 2017 has already approved the pantheonization of Simone Veil (2018), Maurice Genevoix (2020), Joséphine Baker (2021) and most recently the resistance fighters Missak and Mélinée Manouchian, who will be inducted on February 21. Concerning Badinter, "the date and modalities have to be discussed with the family," said the Elysée, depending on whether they wish to see his body laid to rest in the mausoleum itself, or his memory celebrated with a cenotaph or plaque.

Since the illustrious lawyer's death, there have been a number of calls for him to be laid to rest in the Panthéon. The head of the Parti Socialiste, Olivier Faure, officially requested it. President of the Assemblée Nationale Yaël Braun-Pivet, from Macron's Renaissance party, said she hopes Badinter will join Victor Hugo and Jean Jaurès in the "temple of great men." Laurent Fabius, the president of the Constitutional Council, said Badinter's entry into the Panthéon would be "legitimate," as the building is home to "the great men who brought great ideas to life."

For the national tribute on Wednesday, Macron decided to honor the memory of Badinter at Place Vendôme, the large square where the Justice Ministry is located. Under the windows of the building where the law putting an end to capital punishment was drafted, resounded the historic words of the minister calling for "the abolition of the death penalty in France," during his speech at the Assemblée Nationale on September 17, 1981. Badinter, "forever an advocate of abolition," was "a soul that cried out, a force that lived, and snatched life from the hands of death," said Macron. For having made "justice more humane, humanity more just, (...) he was, for five years, the most attacked minister in France," he recalled.

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