Right-wing leader Le Pen on trial
The trial of French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen opened, with prosecutors saying he should receive a five-month suspended prison sentence and a $14,530 fine for saying that the Nazi occupation of France was “not particularly inhumane.”
Le Pen’s trial on charges of “justification of war crimes” and “contesting crimes against humanity” is based on a 2005 interview with right-wing weekly magazine Rivarol.
He denies any wrongdoing and did not attend the trial. His defense argued that his remarks were not part of an interview but of a casual conversation.
During the Nazi German occupation from 1940 until 1944, about 76,000 Jews were deported. Only 2,500 returned.
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