The Paris Court of Appeal on Thursday rejected the request to dismiss the trial of far-right presidential candidate Eric Zemmour, who was tried on appeal for a crime against humanity after he argued in 2019 that Marshal Philippe Pétain had “saved” the French Jews. His lawyer, Olivier Pardo, who had requested the dismissal of the trial, immediately left the courtroom, denouncing an “unfair” decision. “Under these conditions, I have decided that I am not in a condition to ensure the defense” of Eric Zemmour, underlined Me Pardo.
Eric Zemmour absent from the hearing
The president of the court of appeal specified that the decision of his court would not be given until after the presidential election on 10th and 24th April next. The hearing began without the defendant or his lawyer. Me Pardo asked that his client’s appeal be postponed after the second round for “reasons of serenity”. “The debates of opinion must take place in the political arena, they must not occupy the courtroom,” he argued.
The lawyers for the civil parties, for their part, denounced “a maneuver” by Eric Zemmour’s defense to avoid being tried. “I am a candidate and so what ? Candidate or not, Eric Zemmour remains a litigant like any other,” said Me Alain Jakubowicz, the lawyer for the Union of Jewish Students in France (UEJF). This new judicial meeting comes three days after the conviction of Eric Zemmour for incitement to hatred by the Paris court, for his release on unaccompanied migrant minors.He immediately appealed.
Comments made during a debate on the war in Syria
In the case of the comments on Pétain “savior” of the Jews, the ex-star columnist of CNews had been acquitted in February 2021, the court considering that they had been pronounced “at the point of fire during a debate on the war in Syria”. The court had nevertheless recognized that his words contained “the denial of the participation (of Pétain) in the policy of extermination of the Jews carried out by the Nazi regime”. The prosecution had appealed.
The comments were made in 2019 during a debate on CNews against the philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy. “One day, in another broadcast, you dared to say that Pétain had saved the French Jews. It’s a monstrosity, it’s revisionism”, had carried away “BHL”. “It’s once again the real, I’m sorry,” replied the polemicist. At the hearing in first instance in December 2020, Eric Zemmour defended himself from any challenge to crimes against humanity and considered that the debate on the role of Vichy towards French Jewish citizens should be decided by historians and not by justice.