Dieudonné faces Swiss legal case for racist comments
The controversial French comedian has already paid tens of thousands in fines for racism and anti-Semitism.
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Controversial French comedian Dieudonné M'bala M'bala is facing legal proceedings in Geneva, accused of using racist speech during shows he gave in western Switzerland.
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He has been summoned to appear before judicial authorities in Geneva on January 17, reports Swiss broadcaster RTS.
A complaint has been brought by the Coordination against Antisemitism and Defamation (CICAD), which says Dieudonné denied the existence of Nazi gas chambers during shows in Nyon and Geneva, violating Swiss criminal laws on racism and anti-Semitism.
“We don’t want Switzerland becoming a playing field for anti-Semites and racists,” CICAD secretary general John Garfinkel told RTS on Saturday evening. He said his organisation hopes to get a conviction.
The comic has a string of convictions for inciting hatred against Jews and is the inventor of the controversial “quenelle” hand gesture. In France and Belgium he has had to pay tens of thousands of Euros in fines for racial slander, defamation and hate speech.
In 2015 the European Court of Human Rights, ruling against Dieudonné, deemed that negationist speech could not be equated with freedom of expression.
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