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George Bataille repeatedly wondered why Sade was opposed to the death penalty. Following Bataille, I shall approach the issue focussing on Sade’s writing practice and on the political background (the Terror led by Robespierre). Actually, Sade’s position can only be approached through an understanding of the status he grants to the suffering of another body. This status is just as intimate as the suffering of one’s own body and this explains the similitude between murder and ecstasy. We shall show how, through an ethics of desire, Sade opposes his writing practice to the practice of the death penalty promoted by Robespierre.