French right-wing politician Jean-Marie Le Pen is hospitalised before verdict in hate-speech trial
The 89-year-old far-right politician was set to face a verdict on Wednesday in a hate-speech case after he likened gay people to paedophiles and said they should stay out of public
France’s far-right figurehead, Jean-Marie Le Pen, has been taken to hospital suffering from “general fatigue”, his lawyer said on Wednesday, the same day that the 89-year-old politician was to face a verdict in a hate-speech case over comments he made about gay people.
Explaining his absence in court, his lawyer Frederic Joachim produced a hospital certificate saying Le Pen had been admitted “in an emergency, for an undetermined time”.
Le Pen co-founded France’s National Front (FN) party in 1972 and built it into a formidable national political force known for its virulently anti-immigration and anti-EU policies.
His daughter Marine took over in 2011 and has since distanced herself from his controversial legacy, which included a string of xenophobic and anti-Semitic comments that led to convictions.
She kicked him out of the FN in 2015 and changed the name of the party – against his wishes – to National Rally at the beginning of this month.
Jean-Marie Le Pen was hospitalised for about a week in April because of flu and a “dangerous pulmonary complication”, said his aide Lorrain de Saint Affrique.