Six anti-homophobia associations announced to AFP that they had filed a complaint on Wednesday in Paris against the far-right presidential candidate Eric Zemmour for “disputing a crime against humanity”, accusing him of having denied the deportation of homosexuals during World War II.
The Inter-LGBT, Stop Homophobia, SOS Homophobia, Mousse, Adheos and Quazar associations are aiming with this simple complaint at a precise sentence from the polemicist-candidate in his book published in September, France has not said its last word “The deportation to France of homosexuals because of their ‘sexual orientation’, as we say today, is a ‘legend'”. In this passage of the book, Eric Zemmour at that time reported a disagreement with the ex-boss of the UMP (ancestor of LR), Jean-François Copé, who had excluded the parliamentarian Christian Vanneste from the party ” because of the controversy he had caused by claiming that the deportation of homosexuals from France was a “legend”. Eric Zemmour adds: Christian Vanneste “is right”.
Associations are based on historical works
When the controversy erupted in 2012, the president of the association of the Sons and Daughters of Jewish Deportees of France, Serge Klarsfeld, said that to his knowledge, there had been no “homosexuals deported from France”. . “Among the deportees, there were homosexuals, but they were deported as Jews, resistance fighters or common rights,” added Serge Klarsfeld.
In their complaint, of which AFP was aware, the associations represented by Me Etienne Deshoulières assert on the contrary that “the deportation of homosexuals during the Second World War is an established historical reality”, which has been recognized on several occasions by French leaders, such as the former Head of State Jacques Chirac in 2005 or the former Prime Minister Lionel Jospin in 2001. Based on historical studies, they claim that “in France, at least 500 men accused of homosexuality were arrested. Among them, at least 200 were deported during the German occupation”.
Another court case in progress
The associations accuse Eric Zemmour of having “falsified history to justify his homophobic positions”, and point out that “this is the first time that legal action has been taken against comments denying the reality of the deportation of homosexuals during the First World War world”. Eric Zemmour has already been tried, and released at first instance, for “disputing a crime against humanity”: he maintained that Marshal Pétain had “saved” French Jews. The appeal trial was held in January and the decision will be made after the presidential elections on April 10 and 24.
“I have no knowledge of the complaint, I will react when I know its content,” replied AFP Me Olivier Pardo, lawyer for Eric Zemmour.