A French far-right leader has said he will appeal against his three-month suspended jail sentence and fine for questioning the Nazi Holocaust

BBC News:

Bruno Gollnisch, who is number two in the French National Front, questioned the Nazis' use of gas chambers to murder Jews in World War II.

On Thursday a Lyon court convicted him of "disputing a crime against humanity" and fined him 5,000 euros (£3,284).

He was also ordered to pay 55,000 euros in damages to various plaintiffs.

Mr Gollnisch heads a new far-right grouping in the European parliament.

He made his comments about the Holocaust at a news conference in October 2004.

He said historians should discuss the number of Jews killed by the Nazis as well as "the existence of the gas chambers".

His comments outraged Jewish and anti-racism groups, and he was suspended for five years from the Jean Moulin University in Lyon where he taught law and Japanese.

He condemned Thursday's verdict as "a defeat for freedom of expression" and said he was appealing against it, the French news agency AFP reported.

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