France and free speech

Apparently, freedom of speech is considered a crime in France:

The Paris prosecutor's office announced a preliminary enquiry to determine if the veteran far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen broke the law when he described the Nazi occupation of France in World War II as "not especially inhumane."

The investigation was to focus on whether Le Pen's comments, which were made to the extreme right-wing magazine Rivarol, constituted "denial of crimes against humanity" or "apology for war crimes" -- both of which are criminal offences.

The 76 year-old founder of the National Front (FN) party caused outrage when he said that "in France at least the German occupation was not especially inhumane, even if there were a number of excesses -- inevitable in a country of 550,000 square kilometres."

"If the Germans had carried out mass executions across the country as the received wisdom would have it, then there wouldn't have been any need for concentration camps for political deportees.

"It's not just from the European Union and globalisation that we need to deliver our country, but also from the lies about its history," he told the low-circulation weekly.

The remarks drew immediate comparisons with Le Pen's oft-quoted description of the Jewish holocaust as a "detail" of World War II, and were universally condemned by Jewish and anti-racist groups, veterans' organisations and political parties.

Justice Minister Dominique Perben called the comments "despicable." He said Le Pen would have to "explain what he said before a court of law" if the investigation showed that he had committed a criminal offence.