French far-right leader sentenced {Le Pen}

[eppur_se_muova]

Source: BBC

French far-right politician Jean-Marie Le Pen has been given a three-month suspended jail term for playing down the Nazi occupation of France.

Le Pen, who was also fined 10,000 euros (£7,400), described the occupation as "not especially inhumane".

Le Pen, 79, is the leader of the French far-right party, the National Front.

He reached a surprise second-place finish in the 2002 French presidential election, after beating the socialist candidate in the first round.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7234978.stm

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Can we do some US far-righties now?

[thereismore]

1. Everything is relative. The French occupation was not especially inhumane

compared to, say, Polish occupation, or Ukrainian occupation. Just sayin'

[Benhurst]

4. And plantations in the Old South were almost spas compared to Nazi

death camps. I'm not sure where such comparisons take us; but they don't seem very productive.

[uppityperson]

2. le Pen is a scary man.

[Kolesar]

3. *This* would be a first-amendment issue in the United States

I am trying to think of what we are not allowed to say in America. Four years ago, it was *illegal* to express dissent against the bush government.

[ConcernedCanuk]

6. "what we are not allowed to say in America" - imagine that, to even have to THINK that way . .

.
.
.

"what we are not allowed to say in America"

just even FEELING restricted in what you can and cannot say in your own country

indicates a SEVERE problem

no?

[robcon]

5. I would hope we would never have a law outlawing some speech.

To call some ideas so noxious they are illegal would never pass 1st amendment scrutiny, IMO.

The only type of speech that is outlawed is that which incites lawbreaking, or creates danger (yelling "fire" in a theater was the basis of the legal principle.)

[Rockerdem]

7. Wow. What a crime.

[bluedonkey]

8. He got off easy

And to all who don't understand why this is such a horrible thing to say("not especially inhumane").
Educate yourselves on European history and especially Nazi History in France. How many Jews were rounded up and eventually killed,how many french men and women who fought the occupation were jailed,tortured and killed.

To make light of this horrendous time in France and all the European countries is a crime! It shook everyone to the core and they make damn sure it will not happen again and people like Le Pen will get away with making light of it.

[davidthegnome]

9. I don't know much about the occupation

But I imagine it was terrible, as was the Nazi occupation in any other Nation. The man sounds like a real douche bag, and his comment is pretty absurd. All the same... jail time and a fine for saying it? He's an asshole for what he said, and I don't agree with it. But I think he should have the right to say it.

That said, time to do some reading to find out more about the occupation.

[LeftishBrit]

10. LePen is an evil man

He has been leading his party to stir up hate for non-whites, immigrants, Jews and Muslims for the last 30 years.

[struggle4progress]

11. Natzweiler-Struthof

By Beth Weiss

Natzweiler-Struthof was located in eastern France in the Vosges mountains ...

A gas chamber was installed in August 1943 ... Records indicate that the bill for the gas chamber was paid by the Strausberg University Institute of Anatomy. Professor Hirt, director of the institute, wanted a skeleton collection ... Explicit reference to the gas chamber was made in this invoice ...

Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, socialists, and others were tortured and murdered at Natzweiler-Struthof ... Members of the French Resistance were killed immediately upon arrival ...

... medical experiments at Natzweiler-Struthof were common. Testimonies at the Nuremburg trial relate the details of experiments using mustard gas on patients and detailing their effects ... These experiments caused tremendous pain as they slowly destroyed the subjects' organs until their deaths days later . In a separate experiment, another faculty member of Strausberg University wanted to run medical experiments on prisoners with phosgene gas, a poisonous gas. Gypsy prisoners at Natzweiler were used for this deadly experiment. Other experiments at Natzweiler included studying the effects of typhus vaccines and epidemic jaundice ...

It is estimated that 40,000 prisoners passed through the main camp during the time that it was in operation, and between ten to twelve thousand died ...

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/natzwieler.html