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| Jean-Marie Le Pen © Stéphane de Sakutin, AFP |
The charge against Mr Le Pen originates from a 2014 video on the Party’s website, in which Mr Le Pen reportedly denounced several celebrities who disagreed with his political views. When asked about the French singer and actor Patrick Bruel, who is Jewish, Mr Le Pen seemingly mocked the Holocaust and Mr Bruel, saying: “I’m not surprised. Listen, next time we’ll do a whole oven batch!”
Mr Le Pen reportedly denied the allegation of Jew-hate, claiming that his comments carried no antisemitic messages “except for my political enemies or imbeciles”. It is understood that Frederic Joachim, Mr Le Pen’s lawyer, is seeking to have the charges dismissed. Mr Joachim reportedly said: “This case is based only on part of a phrase taken out of context.”
Source: france24
