French comedian Dieudonné loses Swiss appeal over anti-semitic sketch
French comedian Dieudonné M'bala M'bala speaks to reporters outside a court in Geneva in July 2021.
Keystone / Laurent Gillieron
The French comedian Dieudonné M’bala M’bala has lost his appeal against a 2021 conviction for racist content during performances in Switzerland, which included denying the existence of Nazi gas chambers.
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA/sb
Português
pt
Comediante francês tem recurso negado na Suíça por antissemitismo
A Geneva appeals court has confirmed last year’s decision – a financial penalty at CHF170 francs for 180 days (CHF30,600) plus related court costs – a common method of setting financial sanctions in Switzerland. The appeal ruling of April 28 was revealed in an article by the Tribune de Genève newspaper on Sunday.
The initial complaint was brought by the Coordination against Anti-semitism and Defamation (CICAD) organisation in 2019. During his “En Vérité” shows (which means “In Truth” in English) in western Switzerland, Dieudonné performed a sketch in which he denied the existence of Nazi gas chambers, thus violating Swiss criminal laws on racism and anti-Semitism.
In its appeal ruling that found Dieudonné guilty of racial discrimination, the Geneva court said the comedian had “consciously and willingly made negationist and discriminatory remarks about the victims of the Shoah in such a way as to undermine their human dignity”.
The court said it confirmed the earlier sentence in view of Dieudonné’s poor cooperation with the proceedings and his lack of awareness.
“He constantly concealed the purpose of his attacks and minimised the scope of his remarks, for which he first attributed responsibility to his co-author, before hiding behind the character of his sketch,” it said.
Dieudonné’s lawyer, Pascal Junod, said the French comedian planned to appeal to the Federal Court, Switzerland’s highest court.
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 paid 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.
Popular Stories
More
Foreign affairs
What Trump’s return or a new Harris administration would mean for Switzerland
Direct trains to run from Zurich to Florence and Livorno
This content was published on
The Swiss Federal Railways and Trenitalia will offer direct trains from Zurich to Florence and Livorno and vice versa from 2026.
Number of Swiss armed forces exceeds specified limit
This content was published on
The Swiss armed forces had an effective headcount of around 147,000 as of March 1, 2024. This exceeds the upper limit of 140,000 specified in the army organisation by 5%.
More than 400,000 cross-border commuters now work in Switzerland
This content was published on
More than half of all cross-border commuters were resident in France (around 57%). Large proportions also lived in Italy (23%) and Germany (around 16%).
Amherd and von der Leyen discuss ongoing Swiss-EU negotiations
This content was published on
Swiss President Viola Amherd and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have met and talked about the ongoing negotiations between Bern and Brussels.
This content was published on
One million francs, 34 million euros and around 830 kilos of gold: this is the fortune that two Swiss nationals are accused of having moved across borders for at least four years.
Girls in female-dominated classes earn more later on
This content was published on
At the age of 30, women from school classes with a 55% share of girls earn $350 more per year than women from classes with a 45% share of girls.
This content was published on
Geneva-based luxury goods group Richemont reported a downturn in performance for the first half of its 2024/25 financial year. Both sales and profit declined.
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
Swiss court sentences French comedian for anti-semitic sketch
This content was published on
Dieudonné M’bala M’bala was found guilty of using racist content in shows performed in Switzerland, including denying the existence of Nazi gas chambers.
Swiss court judges ‘quenelle’ gesture to be racist
This content was published on
A young man who was photographed using it in front of a Geneva synagogue, along with two companions, was pronounced guilty of racial discrimination by the country’s highest court. A photograph of three young men, including one in military uniform, performing the “quenelle” salute in front of a synagogue in Geneva was published in the…
Controversial French comic expected in Switzerland
This content was published on
In a series of events on Thursday, a court in the French city of Nantes, where he was supposed to start his tour that day, first overturned a ban on his performance. The French government, which has accused Dieudonné of insulting the memory of Holocaust victims and threatening public order with anti-Semitic jibes, quickly moved to appeal the decision.…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.