- PARIS (AP) -- A Paris court
acquitted a comic accused of making anti-Semitic slurs during a much-criticized
sketch in which he dressed as an Orthodox Jew and raised a Nazi salute.
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- The court on Thursday cleared Dieudonne M'Bala M'Bala
of "racial defamation." Only a day earlier, however, he was convicted
of the same charge in a separate case.
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- The comic has faced heavy criticism since appearing in
December on a French television show, "You Can't Please Everybody,"
where he decried an "American-Zionist" axis and raised an arm,
shouting: "Isra-Heil!" Afterward, many theaters canceled his
shows.
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- Dieudonne argued during the trial that he was playing
the role of an extremist Jew in the sketch. The court ruled that his performance
did not attack Jews in general, but rather a category of people with certain
political views.
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- Dieudonne and his lawyer said other comics would be relieved
by the decision.
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- "The court has just recognized a comic's right to
criticize the policies of a state, without being accused of anti-Semitism
when that state is Israel," lawyer Francois Roux said.
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- On Wednesday, however, Dieudonne was convicted and fined
more than $6,000 in the southern city of Avignon for comments published
in Le Monde newspaper. In that case, he had accused Jews of "organizing
a very strong lobby and taking control of the media."
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- France has been battling a wave of anti-Semitism and
anti-Jewish violence for more than two years, often involving attacks against
Jewish schools, synagogues and community centers. In one of the worst incidents,
a synagogue in Marseille was burned to the ground.
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- Copyright (c) 2004, The Associated Press
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- This article originally appeared at:
- http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-france-anti-semitism,
0,4701897.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlines
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- Visit Newsday online at http://www.newsday.com
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