Explained: Why Holocaust denial is illegal in France

"The public prosecutor in the town of Verdun, north-east France, has confirmed that an investigation has been launched into comments that were made after a mass in memory of France's WWII Vichy leader, Philippe Petain. Meanwhile Paris prosecutors confirmed that Holocaust-denying information supplied by Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok would be added to the ongoing investigation conducted by the cybercrime division of the Paris prosecutor's office into X (formerly Twitter)."

"Petain - On Sunday, the Association to Defend the Memory of Marshal Petain (ADMP) organised a mass on Saturday at Saint-Jean-Baptiste church in Verdun, in memory of the leader of France's WWII collaborationist Vichy regime. After the mass, ADMP president Jacques Boncompain told journalists that Petain had been "the first resistant of France". Boncompain also said Petain's post-war conviction for treason by a High Court of Justice had not been fair."

"Philippe Petain, a WWI military hero who won a famous battle at Verdun in 1916, became head of state in 1940 after the German invasion of France. During that time, 76,000 Jews were deported from France to concentration camps, along with thousands of political prisoners, resistance members and members of persecuted groups such as the Roma. Petain was convicted of treason and sentenced to death after the war, but his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment because of his age."

French authorities have opened two investigations into alleged historical revisionism concerning World War II and the Holocaust. The Verdun public prosecutor confirmed an inquiry into remarks made after a mass held by the Association to Defend the Memory of Marshal Petain, where ADMP president Jacques Boncompain called Petain "the first resistant of France" and criticized his post‑war treason conviction. Petain led the Vichy regime during which 76,000 Jews and many political prisoners were deported; he was convicted of treason and had his death sentence commuted to life imprisonment. Paris prosecutors added Holocaust‑denying responses generated by the AI chatbot Grok to an ongoing cybercrime probe into X.

Read at www.thelocal.fr