FRANCE: AUTHOR FINED FOR QUESTIONING NUMBER OF JEWS KILLED

Adolf Goebbels
Published on Oct 20, 2023
(27 Feb 1998) French/Nat

An 84-year-old author has been fined 120 thousand francs (20 thousand U-S dollars) for writing a book that questioned whether six million Jews died in the Holocaust.

However Roger Garaudy, who converted to Islam in 1982, claims he is not anti-Semitic, but anti-Zionist.

In his 1996 book, "The Founding Myths of Israeli Politics," Garaudy questioned the number of Jews killed by the Nazis in World War II and denounced what he called the "Shoah business."

Roger Garaudy went on trial in January, accused of contesting crimes against humanity by questioning whether the Holocaust ever really occurred.

During his trial, the 84 year old told the Paris court that he 'respected Judaism' and that the fight against Zionism was actually part of the fight against anti-Semitism.

In his book, "The Founding Myths of Israeli Politics" Garaudy refers to the extermination of six million Jews as "a myth".

He also claimed the holocaust had become a "justifying dogma" for "all exactions of the Israeli state in Palestine, in the entire Mideast, in the United States ... and world politics."

And he claimed that survivors of the Holocaust had later testified about the existence of gas chambers by referring to "what they had heard about, rather than what they'd seen."

On Friday the sentence was finally delivered by the Paris court.

Garaudy was fined 120 thousand francs (20 thousand U-S dollars) for contesting crimes against humanity, a crime that carries a maximum 300 thousand franc (50 thousand U-S dollar) fine and one year in jail.

The prosecutor had asked for a 150 thousand franc (25 thousand U-S dollar) fine.

Speaking after receiving his fine, Garaudy was still defending his work.

SOUNDBITE: (French)
'The main aim of my book was to show that all fundamentalist readings of the bible and all falsifications of history were intended to disguise the danger that Israeli policy presents as the detonator of world war.'
SUPER CAPTION: Roger Garaudy

And his lawyer was equally adamant that Garaudy had done nothing wrong and that it was the law that brought his client to court in the first place that needed to be questioned.

SOUNDBITE: (French)
'Today, a racist law is trying to prosecute those who criticise, those who contest crimes against humanity. But what humanity are we talking about?'
SUPER CAPTION: Jacques Vergis, Lawyer

Shortly after the ruling was announced, a group of Jewish extremists in the courtroom clashed with some Arab journalists and shouted: "Garaudy Nazi, Garaudy to Jail."

In the Middle East, Garaudy had received support from Palestinians, in the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.

Friday's ruling was welcomed by C-R-I-F, the representative council of Jewish organizations in France.

However the group criticised the court for not punishing the book's publisher, Pierre Guillaume.

The court ruled that Guillaume, also facing a hefty fine, should not be convicted since the book was not widely advertised on publication.

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