Samir75017
26-07-13, 16:41
Marine Le Pen loses immunity over rant comparing Muslims with Nazis
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/multimedia/archive/00290/105876333_290218c.jpg
Marine Le Pen, the ambitious leader of the French far Right, faces prosecution for likening Muslim prayers in the street with Nazi occupation forces.
A decision by the European Parliament to lift her immunity paves the way for the head of the National Front to be charged with inciting racial hatred.
Responding in typically belligerent fashion, Mrs Le Pen claimed to have fallen victim to a political plot designed to halt her continuing success and insisted: “I am going to defend myself in court and I am absolutely convinced that the court will protect my right to tell the truth.
“I assume my words ... and I will show that they are in no way an incitement to hatred but a statement of the facts that is shared by a majority of French people.”
The case stems from a criminal lawsuit filed by Group Against Islamophobia, a French Muslim association that protested about remarks made by Mrs Le Pen at a rally in Lyon in 2010.
She compared Muslims who pray in the streets of French cities to the German troops who controlled France between 1940 and 1944.
“This is an occupation of parts of our territory ... There are no armoured vehicles, no soldiers, but it is an occupation all the same and it weighs on people.”
A year after her comments, street prayers were officially banned in France, although the practice continues in some areas that lack mosques.
The French Justice Ministry last year asked the European Parliament to lift Mrs Le Pen’s immunity, which protects MEPs from being prosecuted for expressing their opinions.
The Chamber voted overwhelmingly to do so today, enabling prosecutors to bring a case for racism against Mrs Le Pen.
She faces a maximum sentence of a year in prison and a fine of €45,000.
Political analysts were uncertain of the impact of the potential prosecution. Some pointed out that her father and predecessor as leader of the National Front, Jean-Marie Le Pen, had successfully used hate speech cases to depict himself as a victim of the Establishment.
Mrs Le Pen appeared to employ similar tactics, claiming that the European Parliament hardly ever lifted immunity for MEPs facing corruption allegations, and claiming that she was being targeted because “I am a case apart. I am a political adversary and perhaps more dangerous than the others.”
Such talk is likely to go down well among the poor, white working class voters who helped her to poll 18 per cent in last year’s presidential election.
Other commentators, however, said that a court case would set back Mrs Le Pen’s attempt to turn the National Front into a party of government capable of attracting the middle classes.
Her efforts to acquire respectability almost bore fruit last week when a National Front candidate came within six percentage points of winning what used to be a safe Socialist seat in southwest France.
Marine Le Pen loses immunity over rant comparing Muslims with Nazis | The Times (http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/europe/article3806110.ece)
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/multimedia/archive/00290/105876333_290218c.jpg
Marine Le Pen, the ambitious leader of the French far Right, faces prosecution for likening Muslim prayers in the street with Nazi occupation forces.
A decision by the European Parliament to lift her immunity paves the way for the head of the National Front to be charged with inciting racial hatred.
Responding in typically belligerent fashion, Mrs Le Pen claimed to have fallen victim to a political plot designed to halt her continuing success and insisted: “I am going to defend myself in court and I am absolutely convinced that the court will protect my right to tell the truth.
“I assume my words ... and I will show that they are in no way an incitement to hatred but a statement of the facts that is shared by a majority of French people.”
The case stems from a criminal lawsuit filed by Group Against Islamophobia, a French Muslim association that protested about remarks made by Mrs Le Pen at a rally in Lyon in 2010.
She compared Muslims who pray in the streets of French cities to the German troops who controlled France between 1940 and 1944.
“This is an occupation of parts of our territory ... There are no armoured vehicles, no soldiers, but it is an occupation all the same and it weighs on people.”
A year after her comments, street prayers were officially banned in France, although the practice continues in some areas that lack mosques.
The French Justice Ministry last year asked the European Parliament to lift Mrs Le Pen’s immunity, which protects MEPs from being prosecuted for expressing their opinions.
The Chamber voted overwhelmingly to do so today, enabling prosecutors to bring a case for racism against Mrs Le Pen.
She faces a maximum sentence of a year in prison and a fine of €45,000.
Political analysts were uncertain of the impact of the potential prosecution. Some pointed out that her father and predecessor as leader of the National Front, Jean-Marie Le Pen, had successfully used hate speech cases to depict himself as a victim of the Establishment.
Mrs Le Pen appeared to employ similar tactics, claiming that the European Parliament hardly ever lifted immunity for MEPs facing corruption allegations, and claiming that she was being targeted because “I am a case apart. I am a political adversary and perhaps more dangerous than the others.”
Such talk is likely to go down well among the poor, white working class voters who helped her to poll 18 per cent in last year’s presidential election.
Other commentators, however, said that a court case would set back Mrs Le Pen’s attempt to turn the National Front into a party of government capable of attracting the middle classes.
Her efforts to acquire respectability almost bore fruit last week when a National Front candidate came within six percentage points of winning what used to be a safe Socialist seat in southwest France.
Marine Le Pen loses immunity over rant comparing Muslims with Nazis | The Times (http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/europe/article3806110.ece)