'Pour encourager les autres'
The following phrase sprang to mind :-
'Pour encourager les autres' is a quote from Voltaire's 'Candide', often used in the context of political punishment and persecution.
The phrase 'pour encourager les autres' has subsequently entered the language, and is frequently used in the media whenever the official punishment for an act has seemed to be out of proportion to the act itself, or where the punishment has an element of political bias to it (in order to encourager les autres to shut up and keep their heads down). In these gentler times the term is often applied to sackings, or footballers who have been given a red card.
So there you have it........