Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

CRIME

French teacher to go on trial over ‘anti-Semitic’ sign at protest against health passport

A teacher in eastern France will go on trial next month accused of seeking to incite racial hatred after brandishing a sign at a protest against new Covid-19 restrictions that police said was clearly anti-Semitic, prosecutors announced on Tuesday.

Published: 10 August 2021 17:41 CEST
French teacher to go on trial over 'anti-Semitic' sign at protest against health passport
Illustration photo: Christophe Simon/AFP

Cassandre Fristot, 34, was seen at the protest on Saturday in the eastern city of Metz holding a sign denouncing President Emmanuel Macron’s enforcement of a health pass in France to encourage people to get vaccinated.

The sign contained the names of several prominent politicians, businessmen and intellectuals in France, most of them Jewish, and police said it “had a message that was manifestly ant-Semitic”.

Fristot, a former local councillor for the far-right National Rally (RN), was detained on Monday and her home searched. Metz prosecutor Christian Mercuri said her trial would start on September 8th. If convicted, she risks up to one year in prison and a €45,000 fine.

Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin had on Monday shared the image of Fristot brandishing the sign on his Twitter account, describing it as “despicable” and then announcing she had been arrested.

“Anti-Semitism is a crime, not an opinion. Such words will not go unpunished,” he said.

About 237,000 people protested across France on Saturday against the Covid health pass which critics say encroaches on civil liberties. Macron has retorted that people are neglecting their duty as citizens if they fail to get vaccinated.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

BANKING

Danish bank to pay millions to end French laundering probe

Denmark’s largest bank has agreed to pay a multi-million sum to end legal pursuits in France linked to alleged money laundering in its Estonian subsidiary that resulted in heavy US penalties

Published: 18 September 2024 16:27 CEST
Danish bank to pay millions to end French laundering probe

Danske Bank will pay €6.3million (47million kroner) to end French financial authorities’ investigation.

An independent auditor’s report published in 2018 alleged Danske Bank’s Estonian unit allegedly laundered some €200billion through 15,000 accounts from 2007 to 2015.

The payment was agreed on August 27th with France’s national financial crime prosecutors and validated by a court on Wednesday. The agreement does not involve any admission of guilt.

Danske last December pleaded guilty in the United States and paid a $2billion fine.

The bank last October set aside an amount roughly equal to its US fine in expectation of legal pursuits in several countries.

Probes are underway in Estonia, Denmark, and Britain.

France charged Danske in 2019 with organised money laundering, which it denied, saying it was unaware of its Estonian subsidiary’s activities.

Tracfin, the French finance ministry’s anti-money laundering unit, found suspect movements on two accounts linked to a Franco-Russian businesswoman who has since been handed a two-year suspended sentence.

At Wednesday’s hearing, Danske’s counsel Niels Heering said his institution was “happy to reach this accord which for us is a way to close this chapter”, adding that “cracking down on financial fraud remains a priority” for the bank.

SHOW COMMENTS