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Éric Zemmour at a campaign event in early January
Photo: CHRISTOPHE PETIT TESSON / EPA
Far-right French presidential candidate Éric Zemmour has been fined by a Paris court for sedition.
As reported by the AFP news agency, among others, Zemmour should pay a fine of 10,000 euros.
The court announced the verdict on Monday in Zemmour's absence, but the politician plans to appeal against it, according to the newspaper Le Monde.
In 2020, Zemmour had taunted migrant children on a talk show, calling them "thieves, murderers and rapists" and calling for their deportation.
"The limits of freedom of expression have been exceeded," prosecutor Manon Adam said during the court hearing.
It was not a linguistic slip, because he also confirmed this statement.
She had accused the provocative politician of "warlike language" and "generalizations," "typical means of racism."
Zemmour's lawyer, Olivier Pardo, had stressed that "quick-witted answers" were the norm in a televised debate.
"Éric Zemmour isn't a bit racist," Pardo said.
He only describes reality “in his own way, sometimes a little brutally”.
He wanted to develop the thesis that immigration was not necessary.
Not the first conviction for sedition
Among the approximately 30 joint plaintiffs in the proceedings were anti-racist organizations, but also several representatives of French departments who take care of underage migrants.
Zemmour already has around 15 procedures behind him.
In two cases he was convicted of sedition.
The former journalist, who comes from an Algerian-Jewish family, is currently 15 percent in polls, just behind the right-wing populist presidential candidate Marine Le Pen and the right-wing conservative Valérie Pécresse, each with 16 percent.
Incumbent Emmanuel Macron has not yet officially confirmed a renewed candidacy.
According to a survey by the Qatar Institute published on Monday, 64 percent of those surveyed consider Zemmour to be a representative of the “nationalist and xenophobic right-wing extremist movement”.
About 62 percent consider him a “danger to democracy”.
For one in five, on the other hand, Zemmour stands for a “patriotic right that defends traditional values”.
fek/Reuters/AFP
