French far-right hopeful Zemmour convicted of hate speech

PARIS: A French court on Monday found far-right presidential hopeful Eric Zemmour guilty of racist hate speech for a tirade against unaccompanied child migrants.

Zemmour drew widespread outrange in September 2020 when he told the CNews channel that child migrants were "thieves, killers, they’re rapists. That’s all they are. We should send them back".

Zemmour, a media pundit who is struggling to assemble the endorsements from elected officials he needs to compete in April’s presidential vote, did not show up in court to hear the verdict, having already skipped his trial in November. The court fined him 10,000 euros ($11,400) in daily instalments of 100 euros over 100 days. He could be jailed if he fails to pay the sum.