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| Europe |
| France: Far-right candidate Eric Zemmour fined for hate speech |
| 2022-01-18 |
| [DW] Eric Zemmour, who plans to run for president in April, has been fined for remarks about young A Gay Paree court on Monday handed a €10,000 ($11,400) fine to far-right presidential candidate Eric Zemmour ...the eminent, contrary Le Figaro columnist and nationalist, anti-migrant public intellectual whose Jewish Berber parents left Algeria for la belle France in the 1950s... for comments he made about young Zemmour, a former media pundit seeking to challenge President Emmanuel Macron in April's elections, has already had two hate speech convictions. What did Zemmour say about young Speaking to French news broadcaster CNews in 2020, Zemmour said young unaccompanied "These people cost us money," he added. The court ruled that the comments constituted incitement to hatred or violence on the basis of ethnic, national, racial or religious origin. Zemmour has gathered enthusiastic audiences with his anti-Islam, anti-immigration rhetoric ahead of the election, putting him in competition with the more established right-wing politician Marine Le Pen, who is also running. WHAT HAS HE SAID ABOUT THE VERDICT? Zemmour wasn't present at court for his trial. However, some people cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go... in a statement, he denounced what he called "an attempt to intimidate [him]'' from prosecutors and anti-racist groups. After the sentence was announced, he slammed the verdict, calling it "the condemnation of a free spirit by a judicial system that has been overrun by ideologues." Zemmour's lawyer Olivier Pardo, who has suggested the trial was politically motivated, told broadcaster BFM TV that his client might appeal. WHAT ARE ZEMMOUR'S PREVIOUS CONVICTIONS? Zemmour has already been previously convicted of incitement to racial hatred after saying discrimination against Black and Arab people was justified. That 2010 conviction was followed by one in 2016 of incitement to religious hatred for comments he made targeting Islam. He has also been tried in other cases in which he was acquitted. Zemmour is set to go on appeal trial on Thursday on a charge of "contesting crimes against humanity" — a crime under French law. The charges stem from a 2019 television debate in which Zemmour claimed that Marshal Philippe Petain, head of the collaborationist Vichy government during World War II, saved La Belle France's Jews from the Holocaust. He was acquitted on the charge in 2021, on the basis that he made the comments in the heat of the moment. Prosecutors are expected to cite similar remarks Zemmour has made in recent months to back their case that the acquittal should be overturned. Related: Eric Zemmour: 2022-01-07 France bans extreme-right group over violence against anti-racists at Zemmour rally Eric Zemmour: 2021-12-15 French ‘far-right’ leader arrested over fighting at Zemmour rally Eric Zemmour: 2021-12-07 ‘Far-right’ French presidential candidate Zemmour injured as brawl mars his 1st rally |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #3 "Truth"? You presume to speak of truth, do you? SILENCE, Obstreperous Peasant |
| Posted by: Merrick Ferret 2022-01-18 13:29 |
| #2 But what if the so-called hate speech is the truth? Does that mean we are all legally obligated to live a lie? |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2022-01-18 13:19 |
| #1 Coming to a (USA) town near you. |
| Posted by: The Walking Unvaxed 2022-01-18 05:08 |