December 15, 2005
Bruno Gollnisch, second in command of the far-right French National Front party of Jean-Marie Le Pen and a member of the European Parliament, has been stripped of his immunity from court proceedings, allowing French authorities to prosecute him for remarks casting doubt on the Holocaust. At a news conference in October 2004, Gollnisch questioned whether the Nazis had used gas chambers. He also suggested that the number of Jews killed during World War II might have been exaggerated. The European Parliament usually protects its members from prosecution for remarks made in the plenary. It voted to strip Gollnisch of his immunity on the grounds that he made his remarks on the Holocaust in a personal capacity. Gollnisch's comments sparked uproar among Jewish and anti-racism groups, and he was suspended by Jean Moulin University in Lyon, where he taught law and Japanese, for five years following his remarks. "The majority of this house has just decided, for political reasons, not to defend my immunity. I have noted with satisfaction though that I have been defended by a number of colleagues. I have to say I do not understand people who voted the way they voted because I allegedly spoke in personal capacity," Gollnisch said after the vote.
