The Court of Cassation confirmed on Tuesday, October 19 the decision of the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal which had released the mayor of Nice (ex-LR) Christian Estrosi on the charge of defamation against the local and regional elected representative of National gathering Philippe Vardon.
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In March 2017, then president of the regional council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Christian Estrosi had strongly attacked, in plenary session of the regional council, his opponent of the FN Philippe Vardon, calling him "
heir to Goebbels
”, the head of propaganda for the Nazi regime.
He had also attributed “
Nazi salutes
” to Vardon
: “
Nazi salutes from Philippe Vardon, Marion Maréchal Le Pen, you put up with it!
», He had taunted.
At first instance, Estrosi was acquitted of the insult count for comparison with Joseph Goebbels, but was convicted of libel for attributing Nazi salutes to Vardon.
In October 2019, the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal had acquitted him of these defamation facts.
The public prosecutor's office did not appeal the acquittal for public insult, the court had accepted the civil fault concerning the injury and the court of appeal had however condemned Estrosi to 2000 euros in damages.
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On Tuesday, the Court of Cassation rejected Vardon's appeal, considering that "
if Estrosi exaggerated the role of Vardon by giving him Nazi salutes
", while the article in Le
Point,
relayed by Estrosi only specified that he was not doing that "
bawling a Nazi song in the midst of people performing the Nazi salute
", this "
exaggeration (...) does not go beyond what democratic debate allows when it comes to elections, to inform elected officials and the public of the political past of those who stand for election
”.
Vardon, a former identity manager, who became a member of the Rassemblement national office, was a candidate in 2020 for mayor of Nice against Estrosi.
He is now a municipal councilor of Nice and a regional councilor.
