France

Bardot faces race-hate charges

Article published on the 2008-04-16 Latest update 2008-04-17 12:52 TU

Sheep in a Brigitte Bardot Foundation animal sanctuary
(Photo: Fondation Brigitte Bardot)

Former film star, Brigitte Bardot, did not attend the first day of her fifth trial yesterday. She wrote to the Paris court accusing anti-racist groups of "harassing" her. The public prosecutor called for her to be fined 15,000 euros and be given a two-month suspended sentence for allegedly insulting Muslims.

The charges arise from a letter Bardot, who is an enthusiastic animal-rights activist, wrote to current President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2005, when he was Interior Minister.

She demanded that Muslims be forced to stun animals before slaughtering them for the Aid al-Kabir religious holiday.

She added: "I've had enough of being led by the nose by this whole population which is destroying us, destroying our country by imposing their ways".

That led anti-racist campaigners to file a complaint against her.

Bardot, who is 73 and has arthritis, didn't attend the trial.

She has already has four convictions on similar charges, including a 5,000 € fine imposed in 2004 for inciting racial hatred in her book Un Cri dans le Silence (A Cry in the Silence).

In 1998, Bardot was fined for comparing the slaughter at Aid al-Kabir to massacres in Algeria and claiming that such violence would soon spread to France.

The court is expected to announce its decision on 3 June.