Germany presses charges against Le Pen
UPI
Germany presses charges against Le Pen
MUNICH, Germany, April 4 (UPI) - German prosecutors (Saturday) are
asking that French far-right National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen be
handed over for trial on charges he trivialized the Holocaust. A
prosecutor in Munich also has asked the European Parliament to remove
the immunity Le Pen receives as a member of the parliament.
bc-germany-lepen
--------
This article remains the property of United Press International and is not
to be modified or redistributed in any way. It is provided as information
through license arrangement between UPI and Pathlink Technology Corporation.
UPI
Germany presses charges against Le Pen
MUNICH, Germany, April 4 (UPI) - The leader of the French far-right
National Front, convicted in a French court earlier this week of
assault, is today being sought by German prosecutors.
Prosecutors in Munich have asked French authorities to hand over
Jean-Marie Le Pen for trial on charges he violated laws against
trivializing or denying the Holocaust.
And, Prosecutor Helmut Meyer-Staude late Friday asked the European
Parliament to remove the immunity Le Pen receives as a parliament
member.
At issue for the Germans are Le Pen's claims in Munich last December
that slaughter of 6 million Jews in Nazi death camps during World War II
was a ``mere detail'' of history.
Le Pen made the comment at the presentation of his German-language
book, ``Le Pen the Rebel.''
If convicted, Le Pen faces up to five years in prison and a heavy
fine.
A French court fined him $50,000 in December for the Munich
statement.
He was fined $193,000 for similar public comments 11 years ago.
On Thursday, a French court in Versailles convicted him of assaulting
a female Socialist politician in last summer's general election
campaign.
Le Pen, 69, was stripped of his civic rights Friday to vote or stand
for election for two years.
He also received a suspended three months prison sentence and was
fined $3,700.
The French judgment may force Le Pen to give up his seat in the
European Parliament and his place on a regional governing council in
southern France, the National Front's political base.
In regional elections last month, the anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant
National Front recorded the best showing in its 25-year history with 15.
2 percent of the vote, changing the landscape of French politics.
Le Pen said today he will appeal the most recent court conviction.
He said, ``It's only in totalitarian countries that courts are used
to eliminate political adversaries of the powerful.''
--
Copyright 1998 by United Press International.
All rights reserved.
--