ffis, B. Article 4 of the African Charter allowed for an interpretation against the death penalty 20.1n addition to the general opinion that the death penalty violates human rights, the right to life remains the right that is violated fundamentally and manifestly by a state order favourable to the death penalty. lt is inhuman treatment and involves psychological torture. The wait between the sentence and the execution constitutes a superfluous punishment. lt is observed, on the contrary, that most lifers - real - do not reoffend. upon release, they resume a normal life.2o we regularly quote the case of Mr. Maurice philippe, who, while being particular, remains instructive. This man was sentenced to death in 19g0, his conviction was commuted to life imprisonment in 1g81 for the murder of two police officers. ln prison, he studied history and, today on parole, he is a doctor in medieval history and researcher in a graduate school (EHESS, France). 21 .The right to life remains the major element of Article 4 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights: "Human beings are inviolable. Every human being shall be entitled to respect for his life and the integrity of his person: No one may be arbitrarily deprived of this right ". lt is this article that is the subject of the Court's judgment. I agree with the purpose of the analysis, but the reasoning of the court in $ 92 remains unclear: "(...) lndeed, Article 4 of the charter does not mention the death penalty. The Court observes that despite the international trend towards the abolition of the death penalty, in particular through the adoption of the Second Optional Protocol to the lnternational Covenant on Civit and Political Rights, the prohibition of this penalty in international law is not yet absolute ". This unexplained search for the absolute and the lack of Praetorian commitment limit the Court's power of interpretation. 20 The position that we find in doctrine, especially Alain Pellet, Rapporreur ofthe French committee chaired by pierre Truche, wrote: "the Committee is resolutely opposed to the death penalty; as abominable as the offenses, ,to use the logic of death against terrorists, which they practice without mercy, it is for a democracy to embrace the values of terrorists'; the only thing lefl is perpetual imprisonment." see. in Ascensio (A.), Decaux (8.) and pellet (A.), (ed.), Droit international pirutl, Pedone, Paris,2000, p. 843. 9