Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

World

Belgium seeks six months jail for French comic Dieudonne

-

Controversial French comic Dieudonne should serve six months in jail for alleged racist and anti-Semitic comments he made during a show in Belgium, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

"His show is filled with defamatory and insulting comments which would make anyone want to throw up," the Belga news agency quoted prosecutor Damien Leboutte as telling a court in the eastern city of Liege.

Dieudonne M'Bala M'Bala, whose father is from Cameroon, was not in court.

In March, a French court handed him a two months suspended sentence and fined him heavily for anti-Semitic remarks after he caused uproar by suggesting he sympathised with the attacks against satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket in Paris.

"I feel like Charlie Coulibaly," he wrote on Facebook, a play on the slogan "Je suis Charlie" that became a global rallying cry against extremism and Amedy Coulibaly, one of the attackers.

The performer, who made his name in a double act with Jewish comedian Elie Semoun, is infamous for his trademark "quenelle" hand gesture that looks like an inverted Nazi salute but which he insists is merely anti-establishment.

French courts have hauled him up over a string of comments which opponents say are bluntly racist while supporters champion his right to free speech, even if it makes for uncomfortable listening.

He was due to appear in a French court Wednesday on charges of inciting racial hatred but that case was adjourned to February at the request of his lawyer.

The Liege case relates to a Dieudonne show there in 2012, and will be heard again on November 25.

Controversial French comic Dieudonne should serve six months in jail for alleged racist and anti-Semitic comments he made during a show in Belgium, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

“His show is filled with defamatory and insulting comments which would make anyone want to throw up,” the Belga news agency quoted prosecutor Damien Leboutte as telling a court in the eastern city of Liege.

Dieudonne M’Bala M’Bala, whose father is from Cameroon, was not in court.

In March, a French court handed him a two months suspended sentence and fined him heavily for anti-Semitic remarks after he caused uproar by suggesting he sympathised with the attacks against satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket in Paris.

“I feel like Charlie Coulibaly,” he wrote on Facebook, a play on the slogan “Je suis Charlie” that became a global rallying cry against extremism and Amedy Coulibaly, one of the attackers.

The performer, who made his name in a double act with Jewish comedian Elie Semoun, is infamous for his trademark “quenelle” hand gesture that looks like an inverted Nazi salute but which he insists is merely anti-establishment.

French courts have hauled him up over a string of comments which opponents say are bluntly racist while supporters champion his right to free speech, even if it makes for uncomfortable listening.

He was due to appear in a French court Wednesday on charges of inciting racial hatred but that case was adjourned to February at the request of his lawyer.

The Liege case relates to a Dieudonne show there in 2012, and will be heard again on November 25.

AFP
Written By

With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.

You may also like:

Business

Turkey's central bank holds its key interest rate steady at 50 percent - Copyright AFP MARCO BERTORELLOFulya OZERKANTurkey’s central bank held its key interest...

World

The world's biggest economy grew 1.6 percent in the first quarter, the Commerce Department said.

Business

A diver in Myanmar works to recover a sunken ship in the Yangon River, plunging down to attach cables to the wreck and using...

World

NGOs allege the loan is financing the Suralaya coal plant, which is being expanded to ten units - Copyright AFP/File BAY ISMOYOGreen NGOs have...