French far-right politician Eric Zemmour was ordered, on Wednesday, April 2, to pay a €10,000 ($10,800) fine for contesting crimes against humanity, by saying that Nazi collaborator Philippe Petain had "saved" French Jews during World War II. Zemmour, head of the far-right Reconquête! party, made the comments during a television debate in 2019. The claim is contested by most historians, who have noted the historic wartime leader's well-documented anti-Semitism.
Known as a commentator and writer with virulent anti-Islam views, Zemmour has several convictions for racist hate speech. He stood in the 2022 presidential elections but was knocked out in the first round. In a statement released after the ruling, Zemmour insisted that he had "at no time wished to 'defend Petain'" and said he would lodge an appeal.
Lower courts had, in the past, cleared Zemmour of the charges of contesting crimes against humanity. In 2022, an appeals court ruled that while the remarks "may offend the families of deportees," they "are not intended to dispute or minimise, even marginally, the number of victims of deportation or the policy of extermination in the concentration camps." That court pointed out that Petain, who headed the Vichy government during World War II, in collaboration with Nazi Germany, had not been convicted of "one or more crimes against humanity" but of "colluding with the enemy."
However, the Cour de Cassation, France's top appeals court, which receives questions on whether laws have been correctly applied, had overturned his acquittal and ordered a new trial. The Court of Cassation ruled that "the alleged remarks might constitute an offense, even if they relate to a public figure who has not been convicted of a crime against humanity."