France : Les fusillés de la Grande Guerre ont désormais un nom

Screenshot from "The Paths of Glory" (Les Sentiers de la Gloire), by
Stanley Kubrick, with Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker (1957)

Ce livre confirme les travaux entamés dès 1995 par André Bach sur les fusillés après jugement d'un conseil de guerre. Un sujet ressorti de l'oubli dans les années 90 et qui divise encore les Français sur la nécessité ou non d'une réhabilitation individuelle ou collective de ces 740 fusillés. Le nom de 220 d'entre eux est gravé sur un monument aux morts de France.

Passionné par la Première Guerre mondiale, Frédéric Mathieu, un normalien de 42 ans, est l'auteur du site "Ders des ders" consacré aux tout derniers survivants de tous les pays de la Grande Guerre. Pour "14-18, les fusillés", il s'est plongé, a-t-il expliqué à l'AFP, dans les dossiers des conseils de guerre conservés au Service historique de la Défense à Vincennes, en les recoupant avec d'autres sources : fiches de décès des militaires "Morts pour la France"; fiches des sépultures de guerre; registres matricules des 8,5 millions de combattants français; lettres et journaux de guerre de soldats.

Un travail de bénédictin qui a abouti à une première, la publication de 740 biographies toutes présentées avec la même grille d'analyse. 108 photographies de sépultures de fusillés, 33 portraits photographiques de suppliciés, quelques rares images d'exécution, des rapports médicaux (mutilations volontaires) ou des notes autographes du commandement complètent les biographies.

130 biographies comportent les témoignages, pour la plupart inédits, de fusillés lors de leur passage au "falot", le tribunal militaire en argot des tranchées, et 84 contiennent les témoignages de Poilus qui ont assisté aux exécutions ou aux faits reprochés aux fusillés.

Dans la seconde partie de son ouvrage, Frédéric Mathieu exploite les informations contenues dans les biographies de 668 soldats fusillés après leur condamnation à mort en conseil de guerre.

Première conclusion : les trois pics d'exécutions constatés durant les 52 mois de conflit correspondent aux trois crises graves auxquelles l'armée française a dû faire face : guerre de mouvement de l'automne 14, bataille de Verdun au début de l'année 1916 et mutineries du printemps 1917 lors de l'offensive Nivelle. Le pic le plus haut se situe de septembre 1914 à octobre 1915 avec 421 exécutions, soit 63% du total de la guerre.

De même, la comparaison des deux courbes, celle des pertes de l'armée française et celle des exécutions, montre qu'elles adoptent le même profil en atteignant leur maximum lors des batailles les plus meurtrières (guerre de mouvement, Verdun, offensive Nivelle).

Les 668 données biographiques permettent également de dresser un portait-robot du soldat fusillé : un militaire du rang (soldat ou caporal) de 23 ans, cultivateur ou artisan, originaire de la Seine, du Nord, du Pas-de-Calais, du Rhône ou encore de la Seine-Maritime, soit les départements les plus peuplés avant le début de la guerre, et condamné à mort pour abandon de poste ou refus d'obéissance devant l'ennemi.

A peine 6% (43) des soldats fusillés ont été officiellement réhabilités entre 1917 et 1934 par la Cour de cassation, la Cour d'appel ou la Cour spéciale de justice militaire.

Source: Agence France-Presse, 2 septembre 2013

Alabama executes Jeremy Williams

Tennessee and Oklahoma have put inmates to death within 30 minutes of each other, and Alabama followed suit hours later as U.S. states executed three men in one day. Tennessee and Oklahoma put inmates to death within 30 minutes of each other Thursday, and Alabama followed suit hours later as U.S. states executed three men by lethal injection in one day for the first time since 2010. The Tennessee man was executed for killing a maid at a motel in 1985, and the Oklahoma man for killing his girlfriend in 2003. In Alabama, a man was put to death Thursday evening for killing a 5-year-old girl he had paid her mother to abuse.

Oklahoma executes Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez

Oklahoma has carried out 1 of 3 executions set for the same day in the United States in another sign of the resurgence of the death penalty in the country. Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez was pronounced dead at 10:13 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 13, at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. He was put to death by lethal injection for the murder of his common-law wife in 2003 at their Oklahoma City home. He admitted to police he shot her twice during an argument. Cuesta-Rodriguez, 70, did not fight for his life, stunning his attorneys in July when he told the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board that he didn't want clemency. "It's time for me to pay for what I did," he said.

Tennessee executes Darrell Hines

The state has spent millions of dollars over decades to execute a seriously ill man who was already incarcerated. The state of Tennessee executed death row inmate Darrell Hines Thursday morning, according to an advocacy group. No formal announcement of the execution has been issued by state leaders yet. The execution was slated for 10 a.m. Thursday at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. [DPN update] Hines was pronounced dead at 10:43 a.m. CDT. His last meal was fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, coleslaw, corn, fries, biscuits, a chicken sandwich, chocolate chip cake, and sweet tea.

Israel builds execution chamber for Palestinians convicted of murder

In March, the Knesset approved legislation that calls for the execution of Palestinians convicted by a military court of killing Israelis Israeli authorities are preparing a prison wing—replete with an execution chamber—designated specifically for Palestinian prisoners convicted of murder, Israel’s i24NEWS channel reported Tuesday. The move comes after the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) approved legislation in March that calls for the execution of Palestinian prisoners convicted by a military court of murdering Israelis.

Tennessee | The doctor who helps put prisoners to death

Dr. Mark Fowler assisted in the failed execution of a Tennessee prisoner. Physicians are meant to heal patients—why is he working in the death chamber? Mark Fowler, a physician with 25 years’ experience, stepped beneath the bright lights and approached the middle-aged man lying on a gurney. Around him, people in medical gowns prepared needles and sterile tubing. It had all the appearances of a hospital setting. Fowler had been called in to help establish an IV line through which the 57-year-old man, Tony Carruthers, would be injected with pharmaceutical drugs. The team had struggled to find a vein, so Fowler was summoned to set a central line—an intravenous catheter inserted into the major vein below the collarbone.

Tennessee set to execute Anthony Darrell Hines

Barring any last-minute interventions, the Tennessee Department of Correction will execute Anthony Darrell Hines by lethal injection at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville Thursday morning. This week, two courts had the opportunity to halt the execution: the federal court in Middle Tennessee and the U.S. Supreme Court. Gov. Bill Lee announced Tuesday he personally would not prevent the execution. “After deliberate consideration of Anthony Darrell Hines’ request for clemency, and after a thorough review of the case, I am upholding the sentence of the State of Tennessee and do not plan to intervene,” he said in a written statement. The U.S. Supreme Court has not granted a stay or reprieve.

Florida executes William Frances Silvia

Florida executed its 13th death row prisoner of the year Tuesday evening amid the state’s aggressive use of the death penalty championed by Governor Ron DeSantis. William Frances Silvia, 61, who was convicted of fatally shooting his estranged wife and injuring his mother-in-law in 2006, was pronounced dead at 6:11 p.m. after receiving the lethal three-drug injection at Florida State Prison. At 6 p.m. Tuesday, Silvia was already strapped to a gurney with an IV in his arm when the curtain to the death chamber went up. He remained relatively motionless with his eyes and mouth open throughout most of the execution while a priest sat at his feet and prayed.

Alabama Set To Carry Out Execution This Week

Alabama is preparing to execute Jeremy Williams, who pled guilty to the 2021 rape and murder of five-year-old Kamarie Holland. The execution is scheduled for Thursday (August 13) at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama. Williams, who is 41, requested the death penalty and waived his right to appeal, making this the first execution in Alabama this year.

The 'Black Widow' shakes Iran: 10 death sentences for a serial killer who killed 12 men

Kolthum Akbari, an Iranian woman widely dubbed the “Black Widow,” was convicted of serial murders of elderly men she married, often temporarily. Official accounts generally center on 11 murders (plus one attempted murder), though Akbari herself gave varying figures and investigations suggested she had many more marriages. The sentencing occurred primarily in September 2025 in Mazandaran Province, with ongoing reporting and updates into 2026. The 56- to 59-year-old killer confessed to killing at least 11 elderly men after temporarily or officially marrying them; Iranian authorities have linked her to additional marriages and possible further victims.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine issues three death penalty reprieves

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine issued execution reprieves for three death row inmates on Friday. In a statement, DeWine said he issued reprieves for Keith LaMar, Scott Group, and Davel Chinn, all of whom were set to be executed early next year. LaMar was scheduled to be executed on Jan. 13, 2027. He was convicted of aggravated murder for the deaths of five inmates during a 1993 riot at the Southern Ohio Correctional Institution in Lucasville. He received the death penalty for four of the killings. His new execution date is Jan. 13, 2030. Watch the latest NBC4 headlines in the video player above.

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