User:Dr Gangrene/Death penalty in Luxembourg

Death penalty in Luxembourg

1795-1814 under French rule
After Luxembourg was annexed by French Revolutionary troops in 1795, executions started to make use of the Guillotine, due to a decree that applied to the entire Département des Forêts, to which Luxembourg belonged. The first use of the guillotine in Luxembourg was on 24 September 1798.

In 1799, 14 people who had participated in the Klëppelkrich were sentenced to death, and guillotined on the Glacis in Luxembourg City. From then until 1821 a further 15 people were guillotined on the Glacis and in the Fishmarket.

1814-1821 under Dutch rule
Three executions are known from this period.

The last of these was that of François Hilbert, a miller from Schrassig who had murdered his wife. He was guillotined on 20 February 1821. This was the last time the guillotine was used in Luxembourg.

1821-1979
In the Constitution of 27 November 1856, the provisions of the Constitution of 1848, an den Artikelen 18 an 118 iwwerholl, a bei der Konstitutioun vun 1868 gouf näischt geännert, grad sou gutt wéi bei de Modifikatioune vun 1919, 1948, 1956 an 1972.

Luxembourgish legislators dealt with the question of capital punishment three times, namely:
 * The introduction of the Code pénal in 1879
 * Amendment of Articles 8 and 9 of the Code pénal in 1948
 * Abolition of the death penalty in 1979

Aus der Zäit vun 1821 bis 1945 ass net bekannt, datt ee vun engem Zivilgeriicht Veruerteelten higeriicht gouf.

1863 - 1900
The period from 1863 to 1900 saw high levels of crime.

The records show that from 1863 to 1879 eighty people were sentenced to death, and fifteen to lifelong hard labour, bei am Ganzen 188 Veruerteelunge mat schwéiere Prisongsstrofen.

From 1879 to 1900 another three people were sentenced to death and twelve to lifelong hard labour, with 208 people receiving long prison sentences. The reason for the lower number of death sentences is that in the Code pénal of 1879 Circonstances atténuantes had been introduced. However, all three of these were individually pardoned.

1900 - 1945
No death sentences are recorded from the time of 1900 to 1945.

Vun no der franséischer Revolutioun u bis 1945 war am Gesetz d'Käppen als Doudesstrof virgesinn.

1945 - 1979
Through the grand-ducal decree of 6 November 1944 on crimes against the security of the state, and the law of 2 August 1947 on repression of war crimes, execution by shooting was introduced, as a derogation to Article 8 of the penal law.

Through the law of 2 April 1948, Articles 8 and 9 of the Code pénal (Article 9 was from 16 June 1879) were amended, shooting was confirmed as the method of execution, and the execution no longer needed to be carried out within the prison grounds, but could take place in other locations as designated by the Justice Minister.

from 1945 to 1979, when the death penalty was abolished, a total of 18 people were sentenced to death, including 4 German war criminals and 11 collaborators. Of the 18 death sentences, 9 were carried out, 7 were pardoned, and two had been sentenced in absentia. The first death sentence was handed down on 4 June 1945, and carried out on 30 June. The last one was handed down on 11 February 1958, but led to a pardon on 30 May of the same year.

The last execution in Luxembourg was on 24 February 1949 at the shooting range in Reckenthal. It was a Nazi collaborator, who had been sentenced on 24 March 1948.

German war criminals
Four German war criminals, Wilhelm Hillebrand, Fritz Hartmann, Adolf Raderschall and Herbert Dietrich, were sentenced to death in Luxembourg, of which three were pardoned in the early 1950s, and deported to Germany. Adolf Raderschall had been convicted and sentenced in absentia, as he could not be located.

Collaborators with the Nazi regime
Joseph Decker, Norbert Sinner, Antoine Thill, Damien Kratzenberg, Ferdinand Spierkel, Jean Koetz, Marcel Stirres, Égide Welter, Marcel Reuter, Albert Kreins, Léon Bisenius and Henri Rolgen were sentenced to death as collaborators with the Nazi regime.

From the introduction of the Code pénal of 1879 onwards, there was only one execution in Luxembourg resulting from a sentence in Droit commun: prisoners had their death sentences commuted almost automatically. This was a conviction of 4 May 1948, which was carried out on 7 August 1948 at 5:15 a.m. by firing squad at the firing range in Reckendall. The convicted was a 50-year-old man from Everlange, who had killed 5 people.

After 1979
Capital punishment was abolished in 1979 under the Culture and Justice Minister Robert Krieps by a new law.

On 29 April 1999, the Constitution was amended, preventing the death penalty from being re-introduced by law.