Former terrorists in a constitutional state

Yves Petignat salutes the decision taken by German justice. "Resisting cries on the street proclaiming 'no pity for the pitiless', the Stuttgart court not only accorded conditional freedom to the organiser of the most lethal terrorist attacks. It also freed Germany a little more from the weight of its past. A big national daily warned that 'the absence of criminals' pity and regret towards their victims is not an argument by the rule of law'. There cannot be any exceptions, even for those who declare themselves at war with the State. ... It is a gesture of reconciliation. What is always impressive is the capacity of German public opinion to lead fundamental debates on the role of the State, the meaning of democracy and the humanisation of justice as passionately as others endlessly argue about the canine freedom in dog-fighting. Yes Switzerland will occasionally go so far as admire Germany."

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