Le Pen Urges Reintroduction of Death Penalty After Charlie Hebdo Massacre

The head of French right wing party Front National, Marine Le Pen said that the death penalty should be an option in France.

MOSCOW, January 8 (Sputnik) — The head of French right wing party Front National, Marine Le Pen, said Thursday she would hold a referendum over the reintroduction of the death penalty if elected president in 2017, following the terror attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine.

"I always said that I would offer the French the possibility to express themselves on the topic via referendum. Me, personally, I think that death penalty should exist in our legal arsenal," Le Pen said in an interview with television channel France 2. She added that the execution verdict for the most heinous crimes would depend on the jury.

In the same interview, Le Pen said that the attack on the satirical magazine was taken to prevent public debate. According to her, radical Islamists have declared war on France.

On Wednesday morning, three alleged Islamic extremists attacked the Paris office of satirical weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 people, including several cartoonists and two police officers.

The magazine previously received threats from Islamists for publishing caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad. Charlie Hebdo also posted a caricature of the leader of the Islamic State insurgent group on its Twitter account shortly before the onslaught.