Le Pen Conviction for Holocaust Denial Upheld
A Paris court upheld an earlier decision against far-right former presidential candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen for “contesting” the Holocaust.
On Thursday a Paris appeals court upheld a 2008 decision and said Le Pen was guilty of ” the contestation of crimes against humanity.”
Le Pen was fined some 13,000 dollars and slapped with a three-month suspended jail sentence for saying in 2005 that “in France at least, the German Occupation wasn’t particularly inhumane, even if there were some excesses – inevitable in a country of 550,000 square kilometers.”
Le Pen told the French news agency AFP that he would appeal the decision.
“It doesn’t surprise me [the ruling] comes during an electoral period,” he added.
Le Pen founded the National Front party, now run by his daughter, Marine, who is also vying for the French presidency. So far, however, she has not been able to muster the 500 mayoral signatures needed to officially make it onto voting ballots in April.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
