|
MEP
Bruno Gollnisch, the leader of the European parliament's far-right group, has
been
fined by a French court for questioning the Holocaust
The
court in Lyon handed Gollnisch a 5000 euro fine and a three-month suspended
prison
sentence
for remarks made at a press conference in 2004. Gollnisch,
who is the deputy leader of Jean-Marie Le Pen's National Front, has also been
ordered
to pay 55,000 euros in damages to the plaintiffs. But
the MEP was not in court to hear the verdict, as he was attending parliament's
plenary
session
in Strasbourg.
The
court said Gollnisch had called into question the number of Jews killed during
the Second
World
War and whether gas chambers had been used to kill them. In
a statement released on 18 January, the MEP said he would appeal against the
verdict, with
his
lawyer saying it was a "categorical violation of freedom of speech".
The
ruling is an embarrassing setback for Gollnisch, coming just days after he was
elected as
leader
of parliament's new far-right group "Identity, Tradition and Sovereignty"
(ITS).
The
controversial new group – which brings together 20 far-right MEPs – is
already
facing
several setbacks after its first week of existence.
Socialist
and green MEPs have launched a campaign to strip the group of its funding on the
basis
that it does not have a "consistent" programme. Meanwhile,
there has already been bickering within the group, with British MEP Ashley Mote
criticising
his Bulgarian colleague Dimitar Stoyanov for saying he opposed the "Jewish establishment". Further
wrangling could dissolve ITS, which has just enough MEPs to form a group
inparliament.
Quelle:
|
