French MP faces prosecution over Roma remark
Source: Agencies |
July 24, 2013, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
FRANCE'S interior minister has ordered police in western France to take action against a mayor and lawmaker alleged to have told itinerant Roma, parked illegally near his town, that Hitler had not killed enough of them.
Gilles Bourdouleix of the UDI centrist party was recorded by a local newspaper reporter making the comment during an altercation with the group, which had parked more than 100 camping cars on a field near Cholet without a permit.
His remarks were reported as President Francois Hollande moves to defuse growing anger over illegal Roma camps from conservatives and frustrated taxpayers, who, in a time of austerity, feel that social services are being abused.
The mayor told BFM news TV that his comments had been distorted.
"I mumbled something like, 'if it was Hitler he would have killed them here,' meaning, 'thank goodness I'm not Hitler and so there's no reason to call me Hitler," he said. "This is shameful score-settling which aims to smear me."
Last week, Hollande's Socialist Party proposed a law making it easier to evict such groups, amid worries that the issue could prove damaging to his government in municipal elections next year.
"This is not a slip of the tongue," Interior Minister Manuel Valls told news channel i>Tele TV. "A case has been brought before the courts because this is praise for the crimes of World War II, it's praise for Nazis, and coming from a mayor it's unbearable."
At Valls's request, a complaint has been filed with a state prosecutor, accusing Bourdouleix of "praising crimes against humanity," police said.
Someone found guilty of praising crimes against humanity can face up to 45,000 euros (US$59,356) in fines, a year in jail, or both.
France's population includes some 250,000-300,000 itinerant Roma, mostly French citizens.
Nazi Germany attempted to exterminate the Roma people. Estimates of how many were killed in concentration camps range from 220,000 to 1,500,000.
Gilles Bourdouleix of the UDI centrist party was recorded by a local newspaper reporter making the comment during an altercation with the group, which had parked more than 100 camping cars on a field near Cholet without a permit.
His remarks were reported as President Francois Hollande moves to defuse growing anger over illegal Roma camps from conservatives and frustrated taxpayers, who, in a time of austerity, feel that social services are being abused.
The mayor told BFM news TV that his comments had been distorted.
"I mumbled something like, 'if it was Hitler he would have killed them here,' meaning, 'thank goodness I'm not Hitler and so there's no reason to call me Hitler," he said. "This is shameful score-settling which aims to smear me."
Last week, Hollande's Socialist Party proposed a law making it easier to evict such groups, amid worries that the issue could prove damaging to his government in municipal elections next year.
"This is not a slip of the tongue," Interior Minister Manuel Valls told news channel i>Tele TV. "A case has been brought before the courts because this is praise for the crimes of World War II, it's praise for Nazis, and coming from a mayor it's unbearable."
At Valls's request, a complaint has been filed with a state prosecutor, accusing Bourdouleix of "praising crimes against humanity," police said.
Someone found guilty of praising crimes against humanity can face up to 45,000 euros (US$59,356) in fines, a year in jail, or both.
France's population includes some 250,000-300,000 itinerant Roma, mostly French citizens.
Nazi Germany attempted to exterminate the Roma people. Estimates of how many were killed in concentration camps range from 220,000 to 1,500,000.
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