Extreme-right Frenchman sent to prison for Holocaust denial

PARIS – An extreme-right Frenchman has been convicted and sentenced to a year in prison for denying the Holocaust and was ordered jailed.

His lawyer in the complex case was fined.

A Paris court on Monday convicted Alain Soral, 60, for publishing on his internet site the conclusions of the lawyer, Damien Viguier, in an earlier case. Viguier, fined 5,000 euros ($5,650) for his conclusions, which were deemed to have negated the Holocaust, said on Soral’s site that they were appealing the conviction.

Neither was present at the court. An arrest warrant for Soral was issued.

Denying the Holocaust is a crime in France.

The International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism praised the ruling, saying the decision to impose a prison sentence on Soral, convicted in the past, shows the “exceptional character” of the decision.