12 March 1963: Jean-Marie Bastien-Thiry attempted to assassinate General De Gaulle following the president’s decision to accept Algerian independence from France From the Guardian archive Jean-Marie Bastien-Thiry, the leader of the conspiracy against President de Gaulle on August 22, was executed by a firing squad at 6:42 this morning at Fort d’Ivry, where military executions usually take place. The sentences on the other two men who were condemned to death, Alain Bougrenet de la Tocnaye and Jacques Prevost have been commuted by President de Gaulle to life imprisonment. Bastien-Thiry was roused a little before five this morning and told for the first time that his petition to the President to commute his sentence had been rejected, and that the execution was to take place at dawn. He asked about the fate of his two comrades and was told they were not to die. He wanted to hear Mass before his execution and also made two new legal objections which he recorded in wr...
Striving for a World without Capital Punishment