French comedian Dieudonné guilty of racial discrimination, top court confirms

French comedian Dieudonné has lost his appeal at Switzerland's top court. Keystone / Laurent Gillieron

Switzerland’s Federal Court has confirmed the conviction of French comedian Dieudonné for racial discrimination over remarks he made in Switzerland denying the existence of gas chambers in the Holocaust.

In a ruling published on Friday, the top Swiss court threw out Dieudonné’s appeal, saying he could not justify the remarks as freedom of expression. “To state that ‘the gas chambers never existed’ is tantamount to denying or grossly minimising the Holocaust,” it said. The remarks therefore fall within the scope of Swiss criminal law which says that anyone who denies, grossly minimises or seeks to justify genocide or other crimes against humanity is punishable.  

The initial complaint against Dieudonné was brought by the Coordination against Anti-semitism and Defamation (CICAD) organisation in 2019. He was sentenced in 2021 to a financial penalty of CHF170 ($191) for 180 days (CHF30,600) plus related court costs – a common method of setting financial sanctions in Switzerland. This was confirmed by a Geneva appeals court in May last year, but Dieudonné took it up to the Federal Court.

CICAD lawyer Philippe Grumbach said he was “very satisfied” with the Federal Court verdict. “It is an essential decision that confirms the place of freedom of expression under the law, but also its limits,” he commented.

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.