Kings, presidents and PMs who were put to death for treason
June 21, 2011
LAHORE: Former Pakistani Prime Minister and PML-N Chief Nawaz Sharif’s recent statement that court judges aiding dictatorial regimes should also be tried for treason along with the military rulers who abrogated the country’s Constitution, may be dubbed a little ambitious by his political adversaries, but world history shows that even men as highly-perched as Kings, presidents and premiers were executed for betraying their respective nations.
Dimitrios Gounaris, the Prime Minister of Greece (1921-1922), was convicted and executed of treachery in 1922. Vidkun Abraham Quisling, the Minister President of Norway, was executed by firing squad on October 24, 1945 on similar charges. Imre Nagy, the two-time Hungarian Prime Minister or the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the People’s Republic of Hungary, was given death in 1958 on charges of duplicity by a Soviet-backed regime.
Pierre Laval, a former four-time French Prime Minister, was arrested in 1945 and killed by a firing squad, after he was adjudged guilty of high treason.
King Louis XVI, the King of France from 1774 until 1792, was arrested during the French Revolution and was executed by guillotine on January 21, 1793 on charges of sedition. He is the only king of France ever to be executed. Meanwhile, Pascal Lissouba, the first democratically elected President of the Republic of the Congo (1992-97), was convicted in absentia to 30 years labour work for disloyalty to the nation and corruption in December 2001 by his successors. The former President is yet to be arrested because he is leading an exiled life in the UK. However, former South African President Nelson Mandela and former US Vice President Aaron Burr are among the famous international personalities who were acquitted in treason cases. While Mandela was accused of disloyalty in 1956, way before becoming the South African President, former American Vice President Aaron Burr was exonerated by Chief Justice John Marshall in a similar case in 1807. Aaron Burr had served four years as President Thomas Jefferson’s deputy.
Interestingly, two US Presidents-Messrs Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Harry Truman-were also vehemently accused by Senator Joseph McCarthy of acting as Soviet agents during the Cold War, but the senator was taken non-seriously as he was in a habit of alleging everybody of spring for the Soviet Union.
In United States of America, where treason is clearly defined in Article III of the constitution’s Section 3, those found culpable of this crime can be given a death sentence or they can be imprisoned for a period not less than five years. The guilty, which include perpetrators and those aiding or harbouring them, can also be fined a minimum of $10,000 and are automatically disqualified for holding any public office in the country. In Australia, Section 80.1 of the 1995 Criminal Code covers treason, according to which the maximum penalty for this crime is life imprisonment.
In Canada, Section 46 of the Criminal Code of Canada covers this subject and prescribes is life imprisonment for high treason.
In France, people charged for treason can be given a sentence between seven and 30 years under Article 411-1 of the French Penal Code. In Britain, the penalty for treason was changed from death to life imprisonment in 1998 under the Crime and Disorder Act. In Germany, those found guilty of high treason can be awarded life imprisonment or a fixed term of at least 10 years under Section 81 of the German criminal code. In Ireland, Article 39 of the Constitution (adopted in 1937) had recommended a death penalty for people found guilty of waging a war against the State or assisting any State or person in any such conspiracy, but the Criminal Justice Act 1990 removed the death penalty for treason, setting the punishment at life imprisonment, with parole in not less than 40 years.
In Russia, where Article 275 of the Criminal Code of Russia defines treason as espionage, disclosure of state secrets or any other assistance rendered to a foreign State, the punishment of this crime is imprisonment for 12 to 20 years. In countries like India, Iran and Turkey, treason is punishable by death.
In India, capital punishment is legal but is rarely carried out.
Following the Indian Supreme Court’s 1983 ruling that the death penalty should only be imposed in the rarest of rare cases, just one person has been executed in this country since 1995.
Security guard Dhananjoy Chatterjee was executed by hanging for the rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl on March 5, 1990.
Dimitrios Gounaris, the Prime Minister of Greece (1921-1922), was convicted and executed of treachery in 1922. Vidkun Abraham Quisling, the Minister President of Norway, was executed by firing squad on October 24, 1945 on similar charges. Imre Nagy, the two-time Hungarian Prime Minister or the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the People’s Republic of Hungary, was given death in 1958 on charges of duplicity by a Soviet-backed regime.
Pierre Laval, a former four-time French Prime Minister, was arrested in 1945 and killed by a firing squad, after he was adjudged guilty of high treason.
King Louis XVI, the King of France from 1774 until 1792, was arrested during the French Revolution and was executed by guillotine on January 21, 1793 on charges of sedition. He is the only king of France ever to be executed. Meanwhile, Pascal Lissouba, the first democratically elected President of the Republic of the Congo (1992-97), was convicted in absentia to 30 years labour work for disloyalty to the nation and corruption in December 2001 by his successors. The former President is yet to be arrested because he is leading an exiled life in the UK. However, former South African President Nelson Mandela and former US Vice President Aaron Burr are among the famous international personalities who were acquitted in treason cases. While Mandela was accused of disloyalty in 1956, way before becoming the South African President, former American Vice President Aaron Burr was exonerated by Chief Justice John Marshall in a similar case in 1807. Aaron Burr had served four years as President Thomas Jefferson’s deputy.
Interestingly, two US Presidents-Messrs Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Harry Truman-were also vehemently accused by Senator Joseph McCarthy of acting as Soviet agents during the Cold War, but the senator was taken non-seriously as he was in a habit of alleging everybody of spring for the Soviet Union.
In United States of America, where treason is clearly defined in Article III of the constitution’s Section 3, those found culpable of this crime can be given a death sentence or they can be imprisoned for a period not less than five years. The guilty, which include perpetrators and those aiding or harbouring them, can also be fined a minimum of $10,000 and are automatically disqualified for holding any public office in the country. In Australia, Section 80.1 of the 1995 Criminal Code covers treason, according to which the maximum penalty for this crime is life imprisonment.
In Canada, Section 46 of the Criminal Code of Canada covers this subject and prescribes is life imprisonment for high treason.
In France, people charged for treason can be given a sentence between seven and 30 years under Article 411-1 of the French Penal Code. In Britain, the penalty for treason was changed from death to life imprisonment in 1998 under the Crime and Disorder Act. In Germany, those found guilty of high treason can be awarded life imprisonment or a fixed term of at least 10 years under Section 81 of the German criminal code. In Ireland, Article 39 of the Constitution (adopted in 1937) had recommended a death penalty for people found guilty of waging a war against the State or assisting any State or person in any such conspiracy, but the Criminal Justice Act 1990 removed the death penalty for treason, setting the punishment at life imprisonment, with parole in not less than 40 years.
In Russia, where Article 275 of the Criminal Code of Russia defines treason as espionage, disclosure of state secrets or any other assistance rendered to a foreign State, the punishment of this crime is imprisonment for 12 to 20 years. In countries like India, Iran and Turkey, treason is punishable by death.
In India, capital punishment is legal but is rarely carried out.
Following the Indian Supreme Court’s 1983 ruling that the death penalty should only be imposed in the rarest of rare cases, just one person has been executed in this country since 1995.
Security guard Dhananjoy Chatterjee was executed by hanging for the rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl on March 5, 1990.
