Persecuted and executed for centuries, Scottish ‘witches’ seek rehabilitation [VIDEO]

“This should not have happened,” exclaims Scottish citizen Claire Mitchell, who is fighting with her friend Zoe Venditozzi to rehabilitate people accused of “witchcraft,” the vast majority of whom are women, and to build a memorial in his honor.

“Between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries in Scotlandabout 4,000 people were accused of witchcraft84% were women,” said Mitchell, a 50-year-old lawyer.

In total, more than 2,500 people were executed. witchcraftmost of them were strangled and then burned, having previously obtained confessions from them under torture.

“They were kept awake for days (…) and confessed to being witches, dancing with the devil or having sex with him,” he explains at a cemetery in Dundee, in the northeast of the country, known as “Huff.” . “.

In this 16th-century cemetery, blown by the glacial wind, there is a small column, nicknamed the “witch stone”. Visitors left flower petals and coins in memory of the executed witchcraftincluding Grissel Jaffrey, who was strangled and burned in 1669. On a street in the city centre, a burning cone mosaic commemorates this woman, known as “the last witch of Dundee”.

little-known tragedies

Mitchell founded The Witches of Scotland. Scotland) two years ago, March 8, 2020, coinciding with International Women’s Rights Day, following the discovery of the extent of the impact of the Witchcraft Law. This 1563 law established the death penalty for those guilty of witchcraft and operated until 1736.

This association requires three things: the rehabilitation of all those convicted of witchcraftan official apology from the authorities and a national monument commemorating these little-known tragedies.

Venditozzi, 46, also a member of the association, admits that until recently she herself knew “nothing” about the witch hunt. “Though I was born in Fife, where there were a lot of executions,” he says.

It found that “the charge could be brought against anyone”, people who were “generally ordinary, often poor, vulnerable, unable to defend themselves” or who were “perceived as strange or disturbing”. At the time, “people had a lot of faith in the devil,” he recalls, and “women were blamed because they were seen as people he could easily manipulate.”

the handiwork of the devil

Another supporter of the cause, Natalie Don, a member of the SNP (Scottish National Party, in power in the regional government), submitted a bill to the Scottish Parliament a month ago to rehabilitate all those convicted of “witchcraftHe elaborated that in order to combat misogyny and prejudice in today’s society, it is necessary to correct past injustices against women.

“In many countries, people continue to be accused and condemned for witchcraft. Scotland it must lead to an acknowledgment of the horrors of our past and ensure that these people do not go down in history as criminals. It will also send a clear message to the international community that this practice is unacceptable.”

Scotland was a nation particularly affected by the witch-hunts.

Julian Goodard, Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Edinburgh, led the creation of a database for their census. About 2,500 people were executed for this. Scotlandwhich at the time had a million inhabitants, he says, pointing out that the ratio is “five times higher than the European average.”

This historian emphasizes that these executions were carried out after trials in which “evidence” was provided, such as confessions or statements from neighbors who claimed that the suspect “bewitched” them, he explains on the esplanade in front of Edinburgh Castle, where they were carried out these executions in front of everyone.

Witch-hunting was the work of the state, an elite who believed that “the devil was trying to do all the evil he was capable of, and that the witches were his allies.”

He also advocates for a monument to commemorate this tragic history: “We cannot change the past, but we can learn from it.”

(According to AFP)

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