The Court of Cassation has decided to refer the former presidential candidate, Éric Zemmour, to justice for his comments on Pétain. In 2019, the former Cnews columnist said that Philippe Pétain had saved Jews during the Second World War.
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In that case, Eric Zemmour had been acquitted by the Paris court in 2021 and then by the Court of Appeal in 2022. The highest court of the judiciary ruled on the appeals filed by five civil party associations and by the general prosecutor’s office.
In question, comments made on October 21, 2019, during a debate on the program Facing the news of which he was the star columnist on CNews, with Bernard-Henri Lévy. “ A day […] you dared to say that Pétain had saved the French Jews. It’s a monstrosity, it’s revisionism “BHL was indignant. “ It’s the real again, I’m sorry “, replied Éric Zemmour.
In its grounds for release on May 12, 2022, the Paris Court of Appeal considered that, if the remarks “ can offend the families of deportees “, they “ are not intended to challenge or minimize, even marginally, the number of victims of deportation or the policy of extermination in the concentration camps “. The Court of Appeal had recalled that Philippe Pétain, head of government of the Vichy regime, had not been sentenced “ for one or more crimes against humanity during his trial at the Liberation, but for “attack against the internal security of the State” and “intelligence with the enemy”.
Tuesday, the Court of Cassation judges on the contrary that ” the remarks complained of may constitute an offense even if they relate to a personality who has not been convicted of a crime against humanity “, According to a press release from the high court.
The Europeans, last chance elections for Éric Zemmour
A few hours after the decision of the Court of Cassation, “ the whole team at work “says a tweet from Eric Zemmour smiling, tanned, surrounded by his close guard at Reconquest HQ. The unfortunate candidate for the last presidential election is turning his back, he has seen others. He has been sentenced twice for incitement to hatred and no less than 8 trials await him by the end of 2023, recalls Julien Chavanne, from the political service of RFI. This does not prevent him from continuing his political adventure, with his sights set on the Europeans of 2024.
His summer school, which begins this Thursday in the Var, is supposed to kick off the campaign. Marion Maréchal, the niece of Marine Le Pen, could become the head of the list. The zemmourists had bet so much on her to score points during the presidential election. But his rallying had ultimately not worked miracles. After the failure in the presidential election and the slap in the legislative elections, where Reconquest did not win any deputy seats, the European elections sound like the last chance elections for Éric Zemmour.
Also to listenThe underside of the infox, the chronicle – Controversy over Vichy and the role of Pétain: the untruths of Éric Zemmour
(And with AFP)