Swiss court sentences French comedian for anti-semitic sketch
French comedian Dieudonné M'bala M'bala sepaking to reporters outside court in Geneva.
Keystone / Laurent Gillieron
French comedian Dieudonné M’bala M’bala has been fined by a Geneva court for racist content during performances in Switzerland, including denying the existence of Nazi gas chambers.
This content was published on
1 minute
swissinfo.ch/mga
Español
es
Condenan en Suiza a humorista francés por libreto antisemita
Having found the comedian guilty of the charges on Thursday, the court set the penalty at CHF170 francs for 180 days – a common method of setting financial sanctions in Switzerland.
The complaint was brought by the Coordination against Antisemitism 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.
“We don’t want Switzerland becoming a playing field for anti-Semites and racists,” CICAD secretary general John Garfinkel told Swiss public television in 2019.
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.
University students in Switzerland join Gaza protest wave
This content was published on
Pro-Palestinian activists occupied university buildings in Lausanne, Geneva and Zurich on Tuesday, widening the protest movement in the Alpine nation.
TradeXBank to resume full operations after Sberbank Switzerland taken off sanctions list
This content was published on
TradeXBank, the former Swiss branch of Russia’s Sberbank, will be able to resume its dollar-denominated activities from the second half of this year.
Geneva decides not to remove controversial memorials
This content was published on
The city of Geneva has presented an action plan regarding a series of controversial local statues and monuments of historical figures linked to racism, colonialism or slavery.
University of Lausanne calls for end to pro-Palestine sit-in
This content was published on
The pro-Palestinian occupation continues at the University of Lausanne (UNIL). On Monday evening, a group of students refused to agree to the deadline set by the rectorate.
Ukraine peace conference should include Russia, says Chinese ambassador
This content was published on
China supports a peace conference on the Ukraine war that would see equal participation of all parties, says Chinese Ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui.
This content was published on
A majority of Swiss citizens have open attitudes towards various infertility treatments, including even egg donation, which is currently prohibited.
Reports of Swiss cyber fraud almost doubled in six months
This content was published on
The head of the new Federal Office for Cybersecurity (FOC), Florian Schütz, has presented a new strategy after just over four months in office.
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.