The former presidential candidate has tried in recent years to rehabilitate the figure of Pétain, who was sentenced to death for “high treason” after World War II.
The Paris court of appeals Thursday upheld the first-instance acquittal of far-right politician Éric Zemmour, who was tried in France for questioning a crime against humanity.
Zemmour, a Jew of Berber descent, had assured during a televised debate on CNews in October 2019 that Marshal Philippe Pétain, leader of Nazi-collaborator France, had “saved French Jews” during World War II.
At the trial, Zemmour defended himself against the charges. And he believed that it is historians and not justice that should resolve the issue of the role of the Vichy regime in what happened to French Jewish citizens during the conflict.
The far right was acquitted by a court of first instance. But the Public Prosecution Service appealed the decision and demanded a fine of 10,000 euros for the polemicist. The appeals court agreed with Zemmour today.
His lawyer, Olivier Pardo, was satisfied with the court’s decision. “It is a message to anyone who wants to launch despicable attacks and use WWII dramas for political ends. Freedom of expression has won,” his lawyer told the French press. Zemmour did not appear in court.
The former presidential candidate, who was a journalist before entering politics, has tried in recent years to rehabilitate the figure of Pétain, who was sentenced to death for “high treason” after World War II. General Charles de Gaulle, who led the French resistance against Nazi Germany, commuted his sentence to life in prison because of his advanced age.
Zemmour has been convicted three times for inciting racial hatred, two of them permanently. The last time he was convicted was last January. A court in Paris sentenced him to pay a fine of 10,000 euros for statements he made in 2020 about unaccompanied foreign minors, whom he labeled as delinquents and criminals. Zemmour has appealed that ruling.
In May 2023, the far right will once again be charged with libel for statements he made in 2019 about the feminist and LGBT movements.
On the other hand, Zemmour announced today that he will stand as a candidate for the fourth constituency of the Var department (south-eastern France) in the parliamentary elections on June 12 and 19, during which the 577 seats in the National Assembly will be renewed. Reconquista, Zemmour’s party, will present a total of 550 candidates for these elections.
Zemmour will try to secure a substitute seat in the National Assembly after a failure in the presidential election in April. The Reconquista candidate won just 7% of the vote in the first round of the presidential election and was eliminated in the race for the Elysée. In Var, the department where Saint-Tropez is located, the far-right leader won 14% of the vote in that election, twice as much as at the national level.
Source: La Verdad
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