Editing Jean-Marie Le Pen (section)

==Issues and policy positions==
{{See also|National Rally}}

===Death penalty===
{{Conservatism in France}}Le Pen supported bringing back the [[death penalty in France]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/feb/26/france.thefarright |title=Death penalty pledge as Le Pen launches election campaign |work=The Guardian |last=Willsher |first=Kim |date=26 February 2007 |access-date=19 April 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.newsweek.com/jean-marie-le-pen-calls-decapitating-terrorists-396748 |title=France's Jean Marie Le Pen Calls For Decapitating Terrorists |work=Newsweek |last=Sharkov |first=Damien |date=20 November 2015 |access-date=19 April 2022}}</ref>

===Controversial statements===
Le Pen was accused and convicted several times<ref name=2004fine>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121105195546/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-93051559.html "Le Pen convicted of inciting racial hatred for anti-Muslim remarks"], Associated Press, 2 April 2004. Retrieved 18 October 2008.</ref> in France and abroad of [[xenophobia]] and [[anti-Semitism|antisemitism]]. A Paris court found in February 2005 that his verbal criticisms, such as remarks disparaging Muslims in a 2003 ''[[Le Monde]]'' interview, were "inciting racial hatred",<ref name=2004fine /> and he was fined €10,000 and ordered to pay an additional €5,000 in damages to the ''[[Ligue des droits de l'homme]]'' (League for Human Rights). The conviction and fines were upheld by the [[Court of Cassation (France)|Court of Cassation]] in 2006.<ref name=2006fine>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121105195557/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-123367529.html "France's far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen convicted of inciting racial hatred"], Associated Press, 11 May 2006. Retrieved 18 October 2008.</ref>

* In May 1987, he advocated the forced isolation from society of all people infected with [[HIV]], by placing them in a special "sidatorium". "Sidaïque"<ref>"SIDA" = ''Syndrome d'Immuno-Déficience Acquise'', the French name for AIDS</ref> is Le Pen's pejorative [[solecism]] for "person infected with AIDS" (the more usual French term is "[[serostatus|séropositif]]" (seropositive))<ref name=aids>[http://www.ina.fr/archivespourtous/index.php?vue=notice&id_notice=I00005231 "Le Pen et le sida: les modes de contagion et l'exclusion"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090226103752/http://www.ina.fr/archivespourtous/index.php?vue=notice&id_notice=I00005231 |date=26 February 2009 }}, ''L'Heure de vérité,'' [[Antenne 2]], 6 May 1987 (QuickTime video, French). Retrieved 19 October 2008.</ref> The term "sidatorium" was coined by [[François Bachelot]].<ref name="liberenaud">Renaud Dely, [http://www.liberation.fr/cahier-special/1999/08/11/francois-bachelot-celui-qui-a-souffle-a-le-pen-ses-sidatoriums-poursuit-sa-carriere-de-cancerologue_282002 François Bachelot. Celui qui a soufflé à Le Pen ses «sidatoriums» poursuit sa carrière de cancérologue.], ''[[Libération]]'', 11 August 1999</ref>
* On 21 June 1995, he attacked singer [[Patrick Bruel]], who is of Algerian Jewish descent, on his policy of no longer singing in the city of [[Toulon]] because the city had just elected a mayor from the National Front. Le Pen said, "the city of Toulon will then have to get along without the vocalisations of singer Benguigui". Benguigui, an Algerian name, is Bruel's birth name.
* In August 1996, he declared "believing in the inequality of races" saying "they don't have the same capacities or same level of historic evolution"<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lambrecq |first=Maxence |date=7 January 2025 |title=Provoquer pour exister, Jean-Marie Le Pen en dix scandales |url=https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceinter/provoquer-pour-exister-jean-marie-le-pen-en-dix-scandales-6677061 |access-date=7 January 2025 |website=France Inter |language=fr}}</ref>
* In February 1997, Le Pen accused Chirac of being "on the payroll of Jewish organizations, and particularly of the [[B'nai B'rith]]"<ref name=1997jewb>Nicolas Domenach and Maurice Szafran, ''Le Roman d'un President'', Pion: 1997, {{ISBN|2-259-18188-0}}</ref><ref name=1997jewr>Douglas Johnson, [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3724/is_199703/ai_n8760814/print "Ancient and Modern"]{{dead link|date=April 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, ''The Spectator'', 15 March 1997. Retrieved 19 October 2008.</ref>
* Le Pen once made the infamous pun "Durafour-crématoire" ("four crématoire" meaning "crematory oven") about then-minister [[Michel Durafour]], who had said in public a few days before, "One must ''exterminate'' the [[National Rally|National Front]]".<ref>[http://libresechanges.humanite.fr/article.php3?id_article=326 'Libres Échanges']. ''L'Humanité'' Retrieved 30 May 2008  {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081206020202/http://libresechanges.humanite.fr/article.php3?id_article=326 |date=6 December 2008 }}</ref>
* On many occasions, before and after the FIFA World Cup, he claimed that the [[France national football team|French World Cup squad]] contained too many non-white players, and was not an accurate reflection of French society. He went on to scold players for not singing ''[[La Marseillaise]]'', saying they were not "French".<ref>{{cite news | url = http://football.guardian.co.uk/worldcup2006/story/0,,1809453,00.html | title = We are, Frenchmen says Thuram, as Le Pen bemoans number of black players | first = Dominic | last = Fifield | date = 30 June 2006 | newspaper = The Guardian | access-date =7 February 2007 | location=London}}</ref><ref>[http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2073351,00.html Far-Right Le Pen's Slurs Fail to Upset France's Quest For Glory] Deutsche Welle, 29 June 2006</ref>
* In the 2007 election campaign, he referred to fellow candidate [[Nicolas Sarkozy]], who is of partial [[Greek Jewish]] and Hungarian descent, as "foreign" or "the foreigner".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/certainideasofeurope/2007/04/le_pen_rides_to_sarkozys_rescu.cfm |title=Le Pen rides to Sarkozy's rescue? &#124; Certain ideas of Europe |newspaper=The Economist |date=12 April 2007 |access-date=13 June 2010}}</ref>
* In a 2014 video on the National Front's website, Le Pen reacted to criticism of him by Jewish singer [[Patrick Bruel]] with "next time we'll do a whole oven batch!" Le Pen later claimed the comments he made had no anti-Semitic connotations "except for my political enemies or imbeciles".<ref>{{Cite web|date=1 September 2021|title=French far-right party founder Jean-Marie Le Pen faces new hate trial|url=https://www.france24.com/en/france/20210901-french-far-right-party-founder-jean-marie-le-pen-faces-new-hate-trial|access-date=7 January 2022|website=France 24|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Lec'hvien|first=Anne|title=French far-right veteran Jean-Marie Le Pen on trial over Holocaust pun|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/french-far-right-veteran-jean-marie-le-pen-on-trial-over-holocaust-pun/|date=2 September 2021|access-date=11 January 2025|work=The Times of Israel|language=en-US}}</ref>

Arguing that his party includes people of various ethnic or religious origins like Jean-Pierre Cohen, Farid Smahi or Huguette Fatna, he attributed some anti-Semitism in France to the effects of Muslim immigration to Europe, and suggested that some part of the Jewish community in France might eventually come to appreciate National Front ideology.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lazar |first1=Alex |title=Meet Huguette Fatna, the French Far-Right's Face of Diversity |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/meet-huguette-fatna-french-far-right-s-face-diversity-n749116 |access-date=12 January 2025 |work=NBC |date=5 May 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Zaretsky |first1=Robert |title=Why Are French Jews Supporting the Far Right? |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/06/28/france-election-jews-le-pen-far-right-macron/ |access-date=12 January 2025 |work=Foreign Policy |date=28 June 2024}}</ref> Le Pen  [[climate change denial|denied man-made climate change]] and linked climate science with [[communism]].<ref>{{cite news|author=Arthur Neslen |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/dec/18/french-national-front-launches-nationalist-environmental-movement |title=French National Front launches nationalist environmental movement |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=21 July 2016}}</ref>

He also infamously compared gay people to soup with salt, saying "it's like salt with soup: if there is not enough, it's too bland, and if it's too much, it's undrinkable", and compared [[pedophilia]] with "the exaltation of homosexuality".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.france24.com/en/20181128-frances-jean-marie-le-pen-fined-homophobic-remarks|title=France's Jean-Marie le Pen fined for homophobic remarks|date=28 November 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rfi.fr/en/20181128-french-court-condemns-jean-marie-le-pen-remarks-homosexuals-gay|title = French court condemns Jean-Marie le Pen for anti-gay remarks|date = 29 November 2018}}</ref>

===Prosecution concerning Holocaust denial===
Le Pen made several provocative statements concerning the [[Holocaust]], which were legally ruled to be [[Holocaust denial]]. He was convicted of racism or inciting racial hatred at least six times.<ref name="2004fine"/> For example, on 13 September 1987, he said, "I ask myself several questions. I'm not saying the gas chambers didn't exist. I haven't seen them myself. I haven't particularly studied the question. But I believe it's just a detail in the history of [[World War II]]." For Le Pen, the French deportation of 76,000 Jews from France to [[Nazi concentration camps]], where they were killed, is a trivial matter, and he denies that 6 million Jews were killed, saying "I don't think there were that many deaths. There weren't 6&nbsp;million ... There weren't mass murders as it's been said."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/frances-national-front-party-founder-jean-marie-le-pen-says-the-battle-is-already-won/2017/03/20/8161bee8-08e3-11e7-bd19-fd3afa0f7e2a_story.html|title=France's National Front co-founder Jean-Marie Le Pen says the battle is already won|last=McAuley|first=James|date=20 March 2017|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|access-date=15 November 2017|issn=0190-8286}}</ref> He was eventually condemned under the [[Gayssot Act]] to pay 1.2&nbsp;million [[French Franc|francs]] (€183,200).<ref>{{cite news | title = Jean-Marie Le Pen renvoyé devant la justice pour ses propos sur l'Occupation | newspaper = [[Le Monde]] | url = http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3224,36-794895@51-776560,0.html/ | date = 13 July 2006 | access-date = 7 December 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060720121511/http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3224,36-794895@51-776560,0.html | archive-date = 20 July 2006 | url-status = dead | df = dmy-all }}</ref>

In 1997, the [[European Parliament]], of which Le Pen was then a member, removed his [[parliamentary immunity]] so that Le Pen could be tried by a German court for comments he made at a December 1996 press conference before the German [[Republicans (Germany)|Republikaner]] party. Echoing his 1987 remarks in France, Le Pen stated: "If you take a 1,000-page book on World War II, the concentration camps take up only two pages and the gas chambers 10 to 15 lines. This is what one calls a detail." In June 1999, a [[Munich]] court found this statement to be "minimizing the Holocaust, which caused the deaths of six million Jews," and convicted and fined Le Pen for his remarks.<ref name=1999fine>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121102133026/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-23235520.html "Le Pen Convicted for Racial Hatred"], Associated Press, 2 June 1999. Retrieved 18 October 2008.</ref> Le Pen retorted sarcastically: "I understand now that it's the Second World War which is a detail of the history of the gas chambers."<ref>{{cite web|work=[[20 minutes (Switzerland)|20 minutes]]|url=http://www.20minutes.fr/ledirect/1016873/jean-marie-pen-propos-chambres-gaz-antisemites|title=Pour Jean-Marie Le Pen, ses propos sur les chambres à gaz ne sont pas antisémites|date=5 October 2012|access-date=8 January 2025|language=fr}}</ref>

===Other legal problems and allegations===

*'''Prosecution for assault''': In April 2000, Le Pen was suspended from the [[European Parliament]] following prosecution for the physical assault of Socialist candidate [[Annette Peulvast-Bergeal]] during the 1997 general election. This ultimately led to him losing his seat in the parliament in 2003. The Versailles appeals court banned him from seeking office for one year.<ref name=1998ban>Julian Nundy, [https://web.archive.org/web/20121105195613/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-18675114.html "One-year election ban for Le Pen"], ''The Scotsman'', 18 November 1998. Retrieved 18 October 2008.</ref>
*'''Statements about Muslims in France''': In 2005 and 2008, Le Pen was fined, in both cases €10,000 for "incitement to discrimination, hatred and violence towards a group of people", on account of statements made about Muslims in France. In 2010. The [[European Court of Human Rights]] declared Le Pen's application inadmissible.<ref>[http://cmiskp.echr.coe.int/tkp197/view.asp?action=html&documentId=867478&portal=hbkm&table=F69A27FD8FB86142BF01C1166DEA398649 ECtHR Admissibility decision in case No. 18788/09] {{in lang|fr}}</ref>
*'''Allegations of war crimes in Algeria''': Le Pen allegedly practiced [[torture]] during the Algerian War, when he was an Army lieutenant. He denied it and won some trials.<ref>''Présent'', {{numero}}1000, 17 January 1986, p.2-3.</ref> But he lost a trial when he attacked ''[[Le Monde]]'' newspaper on charges of [[defamation]], following accusations by the newspaper that he had used torture. ''Le Monde'' produced in May 2003 the [[dagger]] he allegedly used to commit [[war crime]]s as court evidence.<ref>[https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/2003/05/16/l-affaire-du-poignard-du-lieutenant-le-pen-en-algerie_320297_1819218.html "L'affaire du poignard du lieutenant Le Pen en Algérie"], ''[[Le Monde]]'', 17 March 2003 {{in lang|fr}}</ref> Although war crimes committed during the Algerian War are [[amnesty|amnestied]] in France, this was publicised by the newspapers ''[[Le Canard Enchaîné]]'', ''[[Libération]]'', and ''Le Monde'', and by former [[Prime Minister of France|prime minister]] [[Michel Rocard]] on TV ([[TF1]] 1993). Le Pen sued the papers and Rocard. This affair ended in 2000 when the [[Court of Cassation (France)|Cour de cassation]] (French supreme jurisdiction) concluded that it was legitimate to publish these assertions. In 1995, Le Pen unsuccessfully sued Jean Dufour, regional councillor of the [[Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur]] ([[French Communist Party]]) for the same reason.<ref>[http://www.algeria-watch.org/fr/article/hist/1954-1962/lepen_torture.htm "Le Pen et la torture, l'enquete du "Monde" validée par le tribunal"], ''[[Le Monde]]'', 28 June 2003</ref><ref>[http://www.lemonde.fr/cgi-bin/ACHATS/acheter.cgi?offre=ARCHIVES&type_item=ART_ARCH_30J&objet_id=758856 "J'ai croisé Le Pen à la villa Sésini" (I bumped into Le Pen in the Sesini Villa)], interview with [[Paul Aussaresses]] (who had argued in favor of the use of torture in Algeria), ''Le Monde'', 4 June 2002</ref><ref>[http://www.lemonde.fr/cgi-bin/ACHATS/acheter.cgi?offre=ARCHIVES&type_item=ART_ARCH_30J&objet_id=754007 "Un lourd silence"], ''Le Monde'', 5 May 2002</ref><ref>[https://www.humanite.fr/journal/2002-05-02/2002-05-02-33187 "Quand Le Pen travaillait 20 heures par jour"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060515022811/http://www.humanite.fr/journal/2002-05-02/2002-05-02-33187 |date=15 May 2006 }} in ''[[L'Humanité]]'', 2 May 2002</ref><ref>[https://www.humanite.fr/journal/2002-06-04/2002-06-04-34925 "New Revelations on Le Pen, tortionary"] {{dead link|date=June 2017|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} in ''[[L'Humanité]]'', 4 June 2002</ref><ref>[https://www.humanite.fr/journal/1995-04-04/1995-04-04-722345 "Le Pen attaque un élu du PCF en justice"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929131821/http://www.humanite.fr/journal/1995-04-04/1995-04-04-722345 |date=29 September 2007 }}, in ''[[L'Humanité]]'', 4 April 1995</ref><ref>[https://www.humanite.fr/journal/1995-07-26/1995-07-26-730510 Jean Dufour: "Le Pen vient d'être débouté"] {{dead link|date=June 2017|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, in ''[[L'Humanité]]'', 26 June 1995</ref><ref>[https://www.humanite.fr/journal/2003-06-27/2003-06-27-374693 "Torture: Le Pen perd son procès en diffamation contre Le Monde"]{{dead link|date=May 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, in ''[[L'Humanité]]'', 27 June 2003</ref>
*'''Allegations of misusing EU funds''': In December 2023, Le Pen was among 28 people, including his daughter [[Marine Le Pen|Marine]], charged in the [[National Front assistants affair|assistants affair]] for misusing EU funds meant for European Parliament assistants by instead using them to pay [[National Rally]] officials.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/french-far-right-leader-marine-le-pen-stand-trial-over-alleged-misuse-eu-funds-2023-12-08/|title=French far-right leader Marine Le Pen to stand trial over alleged misuse of EU funds|publisher=Reuters|date=8 December 2023|accessdate=10 December 2023}}</ref> Jean-Marie had died before a verdict was reached, but his daughter was found guilty and barred from the [[2027 French presidential election|2027 election]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.20minutes.fr/justice/4146265-20250331-condamnation-marine-pen-bracelet-electronique-delais-mandat-deputee-va-passer-maintenant |title=Condamnation de Marine Le Pen : Bracelet électronique, délais, mandat de députée… Que va-t-il se passer maintenant ? |newspaper=20 minutes |lang=fr |date=2025-03-31}}</ref>