Verdict on Le Pen Nazi remarks
February 16, 2012
The Court of Appeal in Paris confirmed Jean-Marie Le Penn's 2008 conviction for "disputing crimes against humanity" in an interview with a far-right magazine. The court also upheld the National Front party founder's original sentence of a three-month jail term and a fine of 10,000 euros ($13,000).
The 83-year-old Le Penn said he would appeal to the Court of Cassation, France's court of last resort.
He claimed the verdict was linked to the country's presidential election in April, which his daughter Marine will contest.
"I will make an appeal in Cassation against this decision, which I'm not surprised comes during the election period," said Le Pen, condemning the court as "opportunistic."
Le Pen had told Rivarol magazine in a 2005 interview that "in France, at least, the German occupation was not especially inhumane, even if there were a number of excesses - inevitable in a country of 550,000 square kilometers".
Third-place in presidential polls
The far-right leader's daughter Marine last year took the reins of his party he founded in 1972, and - with a poll rating of 20 percent - she is currently at third place in the running for the presidential elections.
In 2002, Le Pen himself surprised observers by reaching the second round of France's presidential race. Le Pen has been convicted on charges of racism and anti-Semitism on previous occasions. In 1987, he caused outrage by describing the Nazi gas chambers as a "detail of history."
German authorities deported more than 70,000 Jews from France to death camps during the Holocaust, with the help of the country's Vichy government. Thousands of French civilians also died in punishment reprisals by the German army.
Meanwhile, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced his candidacy for the presidential elections on Wednesday evening, with the first round of voting on April 22.
rc/dfm (AFP, dpa, Reuters)