Throughout the centuries, there were many executions carried out in different countries
by the guillotine.
A device to take the heads of condemned people dated back from the medieval people, but during
the French Revolution, it became a symbol of the freedoms of the French people, following
the King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette’s execution by guillotine.
But it was used in a number of other lands also, as Hitler and his Nazi government used
it to efficiently execute thousands of people who were accused of dissent and resistance
against his politics.
Some executions were performed so quickly that within 10 seconds of a condemned individual
making their way into the chamber, they were dead with the lever being pushed and the blade
falling.
It was seen as a quick and in some senses humane way of executing, but it was used up
until the 1970s, and today we look at the final person to be executed in Western Europe
by the device.
Hamida Djandoubi was a convicted murderer, who also became the last person to be lawfully
executed by beheading in the western world.
But what was his crime which wrote him in the history books in this brutal way?
Join us today as we look at the final execution using the guillotine.
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Hamida Djandoubi was born in Tunisia on the 22nd September 1949.
However around 1968, he then moved to France and he was living in marseilles, and to afford
to live he was working inside of a grocery store.
He later had other jobs such as a landscaper, but in 1971 he had an accident whilst working.
His leg got caught in the tracks of a tractor and this led to him losing two thirds of his
right leg, and this also left him struggling to find work.
However in 1973, a 21 year old woman who was named Elisabeth Bousquet met Hamida Djandoubi.
The pair had met whilst he was recovering in hospital from his amputation, and she would
later file a complaint that he had tried to force her into prostitution.
Because of this Hamida was arrested, and then he was released from police custody in spring
1973, however it was clear that he was trying to make a business becoming a pimp.
He lured two other young girls to become close with him, and then he forced them into prostitution
for him, and he would benefit financially from this.
However he would then take vengeance against the very woman who accused him of the crimes
in the first place.
On the 3rd July 1974, he abducted Elisabeth Bousquet, and he then took her to his home.
Whilst here, the other girls were there and he then in front of them beat her severely
and terribly, and he stubbed a lit cigarette all over her body.
Bosquet by this time was still alive, and she managed to survive this horrific ordeal,
but then Hamida took her by car to the outskirts of Marseilles, and then he strangled her killing
her.
When he arrived back at his home, the threatened the two girls in his house not to say anything
about what they saw, however Elisabeth’s body was then discovered in a shed by a young
boy 4 days later.
But Hamida was not initially arrested, and he went on the offensive again, and kidnapped
another girl a month later, who managed to escape but then she reported him to the police.
He was arrested, and was accused of a number of charges including torture and murder, and
also assault and premeditated violence.
He was brought to court on the 24th February 1977 around 3 and a half years after he killed
Elisabeth Bousquet.
His defence was focussed around the fact he had lost most of his leg six years before,
and his lawyer said that his behaviour and mind was heavily affected by this.
IT was claimed that this injury made him a different man and turned him completely against
society making him a very dangerous individual.
He also had an issue with alcohol abuse, and this was raised at court.
However the day after he was brought to court, he was sentenced to death for his crimes and
for the murder.
He tried to appeal against his death sentence on the 9th June but this was rejected.
He tried to get a reprieve, but on the early morning of the 10th September 1977, Hamida
was told that he had not been given a reprieve from the French president.
There were other murderers who had not received these reprieves, and he was executed that
morning inside of Baumettes Prison in Marseilles.
The group stopped beside one of the tables.
The prisoner was seated on a chair.
His hands were locked behind his back with handcuffs.
A guard gave him a filter cigarette.
He started smoking without saying a thing.
He was young.
Very dark hair, neatly styled.
His face was rather handsome, with even features, but he was pallid and had dark circles under
his eyes.
He looked neither stupid nor brutish.
Simply a handsome young man.
He smoked, and complained immediately that his handcuffs were too tight.
A guard approached and tried to loosen them.
He complained again.
At this moment, I noticed the executioner standing behind him, accompanied by two assistants.
He was holding a cord.
Originally, it was intended to replace the handcuffs with the cord, but in the end it
was decided to just remove them, and the executioner said something horrible and tragic: 'See,
you're free!'
It sent a shiver down the spine...
The prisoner continued to smoke his cigarette, which was nearly finished, and he was given
another.
He requested his lawyers.
Mr. P. and Mr. G. approached.
He spoke to them as quietly as possible, because the executioner's two assistants were standing
right by him, and it was as if they wanted to steal his last moments as a living man.
He gave a piece of paper to Mr. P. who tore it at his request, and he gave an envelope
to Mr. G. He spoke to them very little.
There was one on either side of him and they did not speak to each other either.
The wait continued.
He requested the prison director and asked him a question about what would happen to
his possessions.
The second cigarette was finished.
Quarter of an hour had already passed.
A young and friendly guard approached with a bottle of rum and a glass.
He asked the prisoner if he wanted a drink and poured him half a glass.
The prisoner began to drink slowly.
He understood then that his life would end when he had finished drinking.
He spoke a little more with his lawyers.
He called back the guard who gave him the rum and asked him to gather up the pieces
of paper that Mr. P. had torn up and thrown to the ground.
The guard bent down, picked up the pieces and gave them back to Mr. P., who put them
in his pocket.
It was at that moment that everything became confused.
This man is going to die, he knows it; he knows that he can do nothing but delay the
end by a few minutes.
And he became almost like a child that will do anything to delay bedtime!
A child who knows that he will be treated indulgently, and who makes use of it.
The prisoner continued to drink his rum, slowly, in little sips.
He called the Imam who came over and spoke to him in Arabic.
He responded with a few words, also in Arabic.
The glass was nearly empty and, in a last attempt, he requested another cigarette: a
Gauloise or a Gitane [unfiltered cigarettes made with strong, dark tobacco], because he
didn't like the brand that he had been given.
The request was made calmly, almost with dignity.
But the executioner, who was becoming impatient, interrupted: "We've already been nice with
him - very humane - we have to get this over and done with."
In turn, the DA intervened to deny the cigarette, despite the prisoner repeating the request
and adding very opportunely: "It will be the last."
A sort of embarrassment came over the assistants.
About 20 minutes had passed since the prisoner sat down on his chair.
20 minutes, so long and yet so short.
The request for this last cigarette brought back the reality, the 'identity' of the time
which had just passed.
We had been patient, we had stood waiting for 20 minutes while the prisoner, seated,
expressed wishes which we immediately granted.
We had allowed him to be the master of that time.
It was his possession.
Now, another reality was appearing.
That time was being taken back from him.
The last cigarette was denied, and to get it over and done with, he was hurried to finish
his glass.
He drank the last sip.
Passed the glass to the guard.
Immediately, one of the executioner's assistants took a pair of scissors from his shirt pocket
and began to cut off the collar of the prisoner's blue shirt.
The executioner signaled that the cut was not large enough.
So, to simplify things, the assistant made two big cuts to the shoulders of the shirt
and removed the entire shoulder section.
Quickly (before cutting the collar), his hands were tied behind his back with the cord.
He was helped up.
The guards opened a door in the corridor.
The guillotine appeared, opposite the door.
Almost without hesitating, I followed the guards who were pushing the prisoner and I
entered the room (or, rather, a courtyard?) where the 'machine' stood.
Beside it was an open brown wicker basket.
Everything went very quickly.
His body was practically thrown down but, at that moment, I turned away.
Not out of fear, but by a sort of instinctive and deep-rooted modesty (I can't find another
word).
I heard a dull sound.
I turned round - blood, lots of blood, very red blood - the body had toppled into the
basket.
In a second, a life had been cut.
The man who had spoken less than a minute earlier was nothing more than blue pyjamas
in a basket.
A guard took out a hose.
One has to erase the evidence of a crime quickly...
I felt nauseous but I controlled myself.
I had a feeling of cold indignation.
We went into the office where the DA was childishly fussing around to prepare the official report.
D. carefully verified every part.
It's very important, the official report of an execution!
Hamida Djandoubi was executed inside the walls of the prison at the age of 27, and he would
go down in history as the final person to be lawfully executed by beheading in the Western
World.
He was also the last person executed in Western Europe, and his execution would bring an end
to the brutality of the guillotine, which took the lives of thousands inside of France.
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