French court considers restoring 'honour' to man guillotined in 1957

France's highest appeals court on Thursday examined a man's unprecedented request to have his father's "honour" restored following his 1957 execution by guillotine for killing a policeman in an armed robbery.

France, which abolished capital punishment in 1981, allows convicted criminals to demand "legal rehabilitation" after serving their sentence -- a right extended in 2020 to the descendants of convicts put to death.

Jacques Fesch, 27, was executed by guillotine on October 1, 1957, for killing 35-year-old officer Jean-Baptiste Vergne during an armed robbery three years earlier. "Obtaining his rehabilitation doesn't mean erasing what he did," said Gerard Fesch, 69, who despite never knowing his father has championed his cause for years.

The Constitutional Council, France's highest constitutional authority, rejected his 2020 attempt to have his father pardoned, saying people executed for their crimes "were unable to fulfil the conditions" required by law to prove themselves worthy of regaining their former, pre-crime, status in society. The French parliament then passed a law at the end of 2020 allowing descendants to make the demand on behalf of their deceased relatives.

'Second chance'

Described as "lazy and boastful" by the court that convicted him, Jacques Fesch turned to religion in a dramatic repentance while on death row that some French Catholics today deem worthy of beatification. Descendants have now filed a request for rehabilitation with the Court of Cassation, France's highest appeals court.

In their opinion on the case -- which the court is not obliged to follow -- public prosecutors said there is no proof "establishing" that Jacques Fesch made amends with society or his victims before his death. As for his "religious elevation," the prosecutors said that if Fesch "became a role model for others after his death, it was independent of his will", in the opinion sent to the court which was seen by AFP.

But Gerard Fesch's lawyer said he is hoping for a "historic decision" from France's highest appeals court restoring "honour to a man whose transformation in prison before his execution serves as an example". The Court of Cassation has the opportunity to "legally condemn the death penalty," said lawyer Patrice Spinosi, adding execution "denies any possibility to make amends".

Beheading people with the guillotine was the official means of capital punishment in France from the French Revolution until the country's last execution in September 1977. Just before his execution, Jacques Fesch had written a letter to his "son Gerard" saying: "May he know that even though he could not be my son by law, he is in the flesh and his name is engraved into my heart." For Gerard Fesch, this case is about more than just his father. "It's about remembering that everyone can repent and redeem themselves," he said. "Second chances exist, even if he, unfortunately, didn't get one".