Frech presidential hopeful, Eric Zemmour, on Monday, January 17, 2022, was found guilty by a French court of racist speech for a rant against unaccompanied child migrants.
According to Zemmour’s comment made in a television interview that generated widespread outrange in September 2020, he said child migrants were “thieves, killers, they’re rapists. That’s all they are. We should send them back”.
Media pundit Zemmour, who is struggling to assemble the endorsements from elected officials which is a requirement to compete in April’s presidential vote, failed to show up in court to hear the verdict after they earlier skipped his trial in November last year.
Upon being found guilty, the court fined him €10,000 (£8,350) in daily instalments of €100 over a period of100 days.
Chances are that, he could face a jail term if he fails to pay the sum.
However, Zemmour’s lawyer, Olivier Pardo, said he would appeal against the court’s verdict.
Past Convictions
Last year, Zemmour claimed the case was “nothing other than another attempt to intimidate me”, saying “they won’t shut me up”, adding that the court was condemning him for expressing his views.
Last year, he was attacked at his first campaign rally as the 63-year-old moved through the crowd to the stage, a man briefly grabbed him by the neck before security officers intervened.
Other Offences
The far-right journalist and author, already has two previous convictions for hate speech and has been investigated 16 times in total counts over provocative remarks on immigration and Islam.
In 2011, he was fined a sum of €10,000 for claiming on a television show that that “most drug dealers are black and Arab”.
In 2018, he was ordered by the court to to pay €3,000 for comments about a Muslim “invasion” of France.
How Zemmour got into politics
Eric Zemmour’s entrance into frontline politics after a career spent in the media sent waves through the French ruling class in September, making him briefly the most talked-about challenger to sitting president, Emmanuel Macron.
Similar to other candidates in the race, Zemmour needs to gather 500 endorsements from elected figures around the country by the middle of March 2022 in order to have his name on the ballot for the upcoming two rounds voting in April.
But he has admitted he risks being excluded unless more mayors and other elected figures agree to back him under a system he has denounced as discriminating against political outsiders.
For several weeks last year, opinion polls indicated that Zemmour, had good chances of placing second in the presidential poll and facing Macron in a run-off. However, following his previous convictions for inciting racial hatred, his campaign has since lost some steam and he now polls fourth.
Zemmour, a former political commentator, is competing with the more far-right candidate, Marine Le Pen and conservative, Valerie Pecresse to challenge center-right President, Emmanuel Macron in April’s presidential election.
After weeks of speculation Mr Zemmour announced his candidacy this year (2022).
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