A French appeals court has upheld the EUR 5 000 fine levied against the former chair of the French ultra-nationalist party Front National (FN), Jean-Marie Le Pen, for saying Romani people are "like birds, [who] fly/steal naturally" a remark that in French played on the fact that the word voler means both "to fly" and "to steal". Agence France-Presse reports that Le Pen previously said his right to freedom of expression had been violated by the fine.
The French prosecutor originally sought a punishment of two months’ probation and a EUR 10 000 fine for Le Pen. The prosecutor claimed the politician was evidently guilty of giving offense of a racist nature when he made the remarks in September 2012 at an assembly of the FN, which many French journalists and politicians still label an ultra-right party, a characterization its new leadership disagrees with.
Le Pen, who has been convicted several times for his anti-Semitic, pro-Fascist and racist speeches, prompted applause and laughter from the participants at the meeting when he mimicked a Roma saying “We are like birds, we fly/steal naturally." Le Pen’s daughter Marine, who took over the party leadership years ago and managed to win over a larger number of voters by not accepting the extremist rhetoric of her father and focusing instead on populist attacks against the EU and immigrants, was present at the meeting.
During the first round of the presidential elections in 2012, the FN achieved itsmost support ever, a record 18 % or 6.4 million votes. The party is now seated in Parliament once again after an absence of many years.
