Dieudonné DVD banned for anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial
A Paris court has banned the sale of a DVD of a show by controversial stand-up comedian Dieudonné on the grounds that it is anti-Semitic, condones the Holocaust and condones “collaboration with the enemy”.
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Dieudonné M’Bala M’Bala’s show, Le Mur (The Wall), was banned from running in January 2014, on the grounds that it contained anti-Semitic content and France’s highest court, the Council of State, threw out an appeal against the move.
On Wednesday a Paris court took the rare step of banning the sale of DVDs of the show, giving a favourable response to a complaint by the League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism (Licra).
M’Bala M’Bala, who goes by the stage name Dieudonné, had advertised the DVDs on his website at the end of July 2014.
The judges found that sections of the show constituted incitement of racial hatred against Jews, that a section on the respective roles of the Nazis and Jews for the Holocaust was denial of a crime against humanity and remarks about journalist Patrick Cohen condoned a crime against humanity.
Dieudonné and his publishing company La Plume were ordered to pay 5,000 euros in damages to Licra and 2,500 euros costs.
The comedian is also facing legal action for allegedly condoning Amedy Coulibaly's murder of four customers of a Paris kosher supermarket after January's Charlie Hebdo attack.
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