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Creator of the controversial "quenelle" gesture that went
viral on social media two years ago, Dieudonne this week already
received a suspended jail sentence for condoning terrorism with
a joke about January's Islamist attacks on a satirical magazine
and a Jewish foodstore in Paris that killed 17.
In this latest case, he risked up to one year in prison and a
45,000 euro fine for incitement to racial hatred.
The provocative humor in his shows has long put Dieudonne at the
center of a fierce debate about freedom of expression.
When Radio France's Patrick Cohen asked on air in 2013 whether
media should pay so much attention to Dieudonne, he retorted
that the journalist should consider emigrating.
"When I hear Patrick Cohen speaking, I say to myself, you see,
the gas chambers ... too bad," said Dieudonne, the Paris-born
son of a Cameroonian father and French mother.
France has Europe's largest Jewish minority, estimated at about
600,000, but is also seeing a steady emigration to Israel of
Jews who say they no longer feel safe.
Statistics show a rise in anti-Semitic acts, and President
Francois Hollande last month urged Internet companies like
Google and Facebook to help fight hate speech online.
The 49-year-old comedian began his career with a Jewish sidekick
in the early 1990s and appeared in several films.
Originally active with anti-racist, left-wing groups, he began
openly criticizing Jews and Israel in 2002, and ran in the
European elections two years later with a pro-Palestinian party.
Dieudonne argues that his trademark "quenelle" sign is a gesture
of non-conformism and anti-Zionism. Critics see it as a blatant
variant of the Nazi salute.
($1 = 0.9378 euros)
(Reporting by Chine Labbe; Writing by Mark John; Editing by
James Regan)
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