(Paris) The Paris Court of Appeal sentenced the polemicist Dieudonné on Thursday to “100 day-fine of 100 euros” for two anti-Semitic videos published in May 2020, a reduced sentence compared to the four months’ imprisonment pronounced at first instance .
Posted at 10:10 a.m.
Dieudonné M’Bala M’Bala, now 56, was found guilty of “anti-Semitic insult”, “incitement to hatred” and “disputing a crime against humanity”.
He was not present at the hearing, which was held on March 17.
At first instance, in May 2021, the polemicist had denied the authenticity of the videos, claiming to be the victim of a ” deepfake », a very sophisticated digital trick technique consisting, among other things, of superimposing one face on another.
The two videos denounced by the civil parties, of about fifteen minutes each, had been broadcast at the hearing.
In a separate case, the Paris Court of Appeal upheld a fine of 10,000 euros ($13,500) and 3,000 euros ($4,100) in damages against the polemicist for “public insult towards a public official”, in l occurrence Frédéric Potier, former interministerial delegate for the fight against racism, anti-Semitism and anti-LGBT hatred.
The condemned remarks were made in a video released in September 2020.
Dieudonné was banned in the summer of 2020 from major online platforms, including YouTube, Facebook, TikTok and Instagram, in the name of fighting hate content.
The controversial comedian, with a criminal record filled for a decade with his anti-Semitic outings, was also sentenced on appeal in May 2021 to three years in prison, two of which are suspended, and a fine of 200,000 euros ($272,000) for tax evasion, money laundering, misuse of corporate assets or fraudulent organization of its insolvency.