Delicious
Digg
Facebook
Twitter
Yahoo!
TechnoratiHortefeux convicted of racial insult
France's Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux has been convicted of making a racial insult about a young man of Arab origin Friday.
The Paris court fined Hortefeux 750 euros and ordered him to pay 2,000 euros in damages to MRAP, an anti-racism group that brought the case against him.
Hortefeux made the comment about a young activist of the ruling right-wing UMP party last September.
"When there's one, it's OK. It's when there are a lot of them that there are problems," Hortefeux was heard saying on film.
He was apparently referring to a young man of Algerian origin with whom he was getting ready to pose for a photo.
The incident was posted in a video on Le Monde’s website causing accusations of racism and calls for the minister to step down.
The court did not deliver a criminal conviction as it said that Hortefeux had not intended the comments to be heard in public.
Hortefeux denied that his comments referred to the man's race. The young party activist also said that he thought the minister's comments had been taken out of context.
Nicolas Benoit, a lawyer who represented Hortefeux in the case, said the minister
would appeal the ruling immediately.
Hortefeux received the support of President Nicolas Sarkozy throughout the controversy.
Comments (1)
Hortefeux should step down.
According to French legal specialists quoted in Le Monde, this is the first time a serving minister in the 5th republic has been convicted for proferring racial insults. This is the minister of the Interior, second only to the Prime Minister, to which he was promoted after a long stint as...minister of Immigration and "National Identity." It goes without saying that it is extremely embarrassing to all right-thinking French people, myself included, for Hortefeux to remain in his post. This is NOT what France stands for.
React to this article