Six associations fighting against homophobia file a complaint against Eric Zemmour for contesting a crime against humanity

Six associations fighting against homophobia announced in a column published in the magazine Têtu that they had filed a complaint against the far-right presidential candidate Eric Zemmour, Wednesday March 23 in Paris, for “disputing a crime against humanity” , accusing him of having denied the deportation of homosexuals during the Second World War. The associations accuse Mr. Zemmour of having “falsified history to justify his homophobic positions”, and recall that “this is the first time that legal action has been taken against comments denying the reality of the deportation of homosexuals during the second world War “. With this complaint, the Inter-LGBT, Stop Homophobia, SOS Homophobia, Mousse, Adheos and Quazar associations are targeting a specific sentence by the candidate polemicist in his book published in September, France did not say its last word (Ed. Rubempré) : “The deportation to France of homosexuals because of their sexual orientation, as we say today, is a “legend”. “In this passage of the book, Mr. Zemmour at that time reported a disagreement with the ex-boss of the UMP (ancestor of LR), Jean-François Copé, who had excluded the parliamentarian Christian Vanneste from the party “because of the controversy he had provoked by asserting that the deportation of homosexuals from France was a ‘legend'”. Eric Zemmour adds: Christian Vanneste “is right”. Read also Article reserved for our subscribers Eric Zemmour, prosecuted for “disputing a crime against humanity”, was released “A historical reality” recognized When the controversy broke out in 2012, the president of the Association of the sons and daughters of deported Jews from France, Serge Klarsfeld, had declared that, to his knowledge, there had been “no homosexuals deported from France”. “Among the deportees, there were homosexuals but they were deported as Jews, resistance fighters or common rights,” added Mr. Klarsfeld. In their complaint, of which Agence France-Presse was aware, the associations represented by Me Etienne Deshoulières affirm, on the contrary, that “the deportation of homosexuals during the Second World War is an established historical reality”, which has been recognized repeatedly by French leaders, such as the former head of state Jacques Chirac in 2005, or the former prime minister Lionel Jospin in 2001. Based on historical studies, they claim that “in France, at least 500 men accused of homosexuality have been arrested. Among them, at least 200 were deported during the German occupation”. Other more recent works, based in particular on French archives, including Les Homosexuals en France, du bûcher au camp de la mort (Ed. Tiresias-Michel Reynaud), written by the historian Arnaud Boulligny, support their complaint. Eric Zemmour has already been tried, and released at first instance, for “disputing a crime against humanity”: he maintained that Marshal Pétain had “saved” French Jews. The appeal trial was held in January and the decision will be made after the presidential elections on April 10 and 24. “I have no knowledge of the complaint, I will react when I know its content”, commented Olivier Pardo, lawyer for Eric Zemmour. Also listen to Pétain, Vichy and the Jews: the lessons of history Le Monde with AFP