PARIS (EJP)--- A controversial French politician was given a three month suspended prison sentence by a court in Lyon on Thursday for questioning the existence of gas chambers during the Holocaust.

Bruno Gollnisch, deputy leader of the extreme-right National Front party and a member of the European Parliament, was also fined 5,000 euros for the statements made during a press conference in October 2004.

Gollnisch, a former professor of Japanese at the Lyon university, was reacting to a report denouncing the complacent attitude of the university with respect to the extreme-right.

“I do not question the existence of concentration camps but historians could discuss the number of deaths. As to the existence of gas chambers, it is up to historians to speak their minds,” he said at the time.

Gollnisch was suspended from his post at the university for five years as a result of his remarks.


Scandalous comments

Gollnisch’s declarations provoked an instantaneous scandal, especially with as they were made close to the time of the ceremonies commemorating the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp.

He was prosecuted for “questioning the existence of crimes against humanity”.

The Gayssot Act passed by the French parliament in 1990 prohibits publicly casting doubt on the existence of crimes against humanity condemned during the Nuremberg trials.

At the trial, last November, the prosecutor had demanded a 10,000 euros fine.

Gollnisch was this week named president of a newly established extreme-right group in the European Parliament.

His condemnation comes the same day as French President Jacques Chirac is solemnly honouring French people who helped or saved Jews during the Holocaust.

Gollnisch announced that he would appeal the court decision.