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Major events

Anniversary of death penalty abolition

It has been 30 years. The Minister of Justice was speaking to the National Assembly in the following terms : “Mister President,  ladies and gentlemen of the Parliament, on behalf of the Government of the Republic, it is my pleasure to ask the National Assembly for the abolition of the death penalty in France.” Mr. Robert Badinter was thus marking his new career in the Government with the words which would stay forever in the collective mind…

 

In partnership with Ensemble Contre la Peine de Mort, the Institute celebrates the 30th anniversary of the abolition of the death penalty. Several events will be organized starting Tuesday, September 27 in Caen.

 

 

Mumia Abu-Jamal Evening – Tuesday January 10, 2012

 

After having participated in the 30th anniversary of the abolition of the death penalty in France at the beginning of 2012, the Institute is still trying to raise awareness on this fundamental theme which is unfortunately still relevant.

 

In partnership with the Cinéma Lux, we will organize a special evening dedicated to Mumia Abu-Jamal, one the world's best known death-row inmate, on January 10, 2012 at the Amphithéâtre Pierre Daure – University Caen Lower-Normandy.

 

For this evening, we will have the pleasure to welcome Claude Guillaumaud-Pujol, Mumia Abu-Jamal’s official biographer, author of « Chroniques de Philadelphie, Mumia Abu-Jamal, un homme libre dans le couloir de la mort » (Philadelphia Chronicles, Mumia Abu-Jamal, a free man on death row). Claude will briefly present the Mumia case and the movie “In Prison My Whole Life” at 8:00 p.m before the showing of the movie. Claude Guillaumaud-Pujol will then discuss the movie and Mumia’s story in more details with the audience.

 

 

More information on « In Prison My Whole Life »:

Many documentaries on death penalty in the United States are still being produced. In Prison My Whole Life tackles the tragic life of Mumia Abu-Jamal, journalist and former communications assistant of the Black Panthers, who has been waiting for thirty years on death row in the United States because he has been accused of a murder that he claimed he did not commit. He was arrested precisely on the day William Francome was born. He grew up knowing about Mumia’s case from his activist mother. The movie starts from this fact. 

 

Associating Abu-Jamal’s personal history with the story of the sentenced to death, the movie gives more power to these themes by using the bigger picture of the fight for civil rights in the United States. The often passionate, but intentionally blurred outcome looks like a sketchbook. 

 

The fascinating portrayal of Abu-Jamal is the core of the movie, and his soft and cavernous voice sounds like it comes from another world and gives another dimension to the movie. Many famous public figures have participated, such as Angela Davis (the Black Panthers’ icon already at the centre of Black Power Mixtape, to be released on November 16), Noam Chomsky, Mos Def and Snoop Dog. With them, Marc Evans, the filmmaker has tried to build bridges between the current, post 9/11 era and the 1970s, from which the revolutionary fervour both seems totally surreal and very close to being able to regain strength.”

 

Source : Le Monde

 

 

 

 

PROGRAM - September 2011

 Voir la suite

Tuesday, September 27 at 7 p.m:

Movie screening « The Abolition », with Charles Berling at the Pierre Daure auditorium.3h time

 

Alain Godard, scriptwriter of the movie « The Abolition »

« When you read again the Execution and the Abolition, two books by Robert Badinter, always with the same feeling of past emotion, and you think that the story is too good to be true. It seems to come from the imagination of a Hollywood scriptwriter who is a reader of Alexandre Dumas. Why not, after all, it can exist. You think: the same theatre, the same scenery, almost the same characters for the most bitter, unfair and painful defeat and, after a while, for the most glorious revenge. And then, as in the pure Western tradition, think about the hero bearing the brunt of his glory, and has to do so or he could see himself as undermined and relive his impossible feats until the final victory. But the truth is, it is a real story; the story of a man and his fight for the abolition of the death penalty. And not only it is true, but it is also beautiful and impressive.”

 

Extrait de l'Abolition from Charles Berling on Vimeo.



 

 

Wednesday, September 28 at 7 p.m.:

 

A citizen debate was organized at the Bistrot  du  Palais,  2  rue  Guillaume  le  Conquérant in Caen. The following speakers made a presentation and debated with the audience :

‐ Mrs. Sandrine Ageorges‐Skinner, Hans Skinner‘s wife

‐ Mr. Richard Sédillot, lawyer at the Rouen Bar Association

 

Sandrine Ageorges‐Skinner has been fighting against the death penalty since she was 16, after Christian Ranucci’s case (see below). She is Hans Skinner’s wife, who was sentenced to death in the United States on March 23, 1995. She is an expert on death penalty and has been a member for many years of Together Against the Death Penalty. She participated in a citizen debate with Richard Sédillot, international lawyer specialized in human rights and administrator of Together Against the Death Penalty. Indeed, Mr. Sédillot has defended people facing a death sentence in Africa and abroad. With the audience, these two death penalty experts debated on what death penalty meant in France and on death penalty in general terms, in France and all over the world.

 

 

 

Thursday, September 29 at 7 p.m.:

 

An evening around « Le Pullover rouge »

 

The Institute organizes an exceptional evening at the Cinéma Lux in Caen. We are honored to host a writer who left his mark on the pre-abolitionist period in France: Mr. Gilles Perrault, the writer of “Le Pullover rouge.”

 

The narrative of Christian Ranucci’s story written by Gilles Perrault is a moving one and will certainly touch the reader. The amount of work handled by the author is enormous and while trying not to take sides, Gilles Perrault lets the reader free to think whether Christian Ranucci is guilty or not.

 

“I challenge anyone, declares Gilles Perrault, to be convinced, at the end of my book, of Ranucci’s guilt.”

 

The evening’s agenda :

‐ 7 p.m.: movie screening of « Le Pullover rouge », a movie by  Michel Drach. 2hours

‐ 9 p.m.: speech on the death penalty, its abolition and Christian Ranucci between the audience and Gilles Perrault.