French Neo-nazi Leader Sentenced to 6 Months in Jail, Fined $8250

Neo-Nazi Marc Fredriksen, leader of the outlawed Federation of European Nationalist Action (FANE), was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment last Friday on charges of incitement to racial hatred. But 12 months of the sentence were suspended. The 46-year-old former bank clerk was also fined 3000 Francs ($750) and 30,000 Francs ($7500) in damage to five anti-fascist and veterans organizations which had brought the civil suit against him.

Fredriksen was not in court. He is still hospitalized for serious injuries sustained when he and other neo-Nazis clashed with a group of Jewish militants at a Paris railroad station last Sunday.

Jean Schewin, President of the court, said the Fredriksen articles in his neo-Nazi newspaper, “Our Europe,” constituted “a serious breach of the peace” and were offensive to millions of people. One of Fredriksen’s contentions is that the Holocaust never occurred but was a hoax invented by Jews to extort money from Germany.

His sentence was pronounced just two weeks after unidentified terrorists bombed the Rue Copernic Temple during Friday evening services, killing four persons, all passersby, and injuring 32. His organization has not claimed responsibility for that outrage. But it did take credit for the machine gun attacks on five Jewish institutions in Paris a week earlier in which no one was injured.

Extraordinary security measures were taken inside the court building and the surrounding area while the verdict was being read. Although Jewish organizations called on their members not to demonstrate, several hundred young Jewish militants turned up at the court building, many wearing steel helmets and carrying clubs or metal bars. None of Fredriksen’s followers showed up.