Europe 1 with AFP 5:04 p.m., January 21, 2022
The day after the dismissal of his trial for contesting a crime against humanity, Eric Zemmour maintained his remarks about Pétain. The Court of Appeal's decision will be handed down after the presidential election on 10th and 24th April next. The ex-star columnist of CNews was released in February 2021, after having argued in 2019 that Marshal Philippe Pétain had “saved” French Jews during the Second World War.
Eric Zemmour said Friday to maintain his remarks on Marshal Pétain "savior" of Jews, believing he was "historically right", the day after the rejection of the request for dismissal of his trial for contesting crimes against humanity.
The decision of the court of appeal will be given after the presidential election on 10th and 24th April next.
The ex-star columnist of CNews was released in February 2021, after having argued in 2019 that Marshal Philippe Pétain had “saved” French Jews during the Second World War.
The court considered that these remarks had been made "off the cuff during a debate on the war in Syria".
"I know I'm right historically"
Asked by
Nice Matin
at the start of a two-day visit to the Alpes-Maritimes to find out if he maintained his words, Eric Zemmour replied: "I always maintain my words and I know that I am historically right". "Now it's not the subject of the presidential election, and I can clearly see the political maneuver," he continued. "We want to do the trick of François Fillon to me," he said, referring to the former Prime Minister of Nicolas Sarkozy who had been dismissed in the first round of the 2017 presidential election in the midst of legal disputes.
For Eric Zemmour, "we want to steal the election from the French and we want to use justice to ostracize one of the main candidates in the presidential election".
"All of this is sewn with white thread", he added, considering that justice is "instrumentalized by associations, by power" and that "the prosecution is obviously under the orders of Mr. (Eric) Dupont-Moretti ", the Minister of Justice.
Eric Zemmour's lawyer, Olivier Pardo, asked that his client's appeal trial be postponed after the second round of the presidential election for "reasons of serenity".
“The debates of opinion must take place in the political arena, they must not occupy the courtroom,” he argued.
A breath of fresh air in the countryside
The candidate, whose campaign is experiencing a downturn after disputed remarks on the care of disabled children, is in the Alpes-Maritimes on Friday in Menton and Antibes, before a meeting on Saturday in Cannes, where he hopes to bring together 4,000 people at the Palace of Victories.