he “played a role in public life” which “is now subject to the judgment of history”, declares the Elysée

The co-founder of the National Front has been convicted numerous times for insults, incitement to racial hatred or contesting crimes against humanity.

A laconic press release. The co-founder of the National Front Jean-Marie Le Pen, who died on Tuesday January 7 at the age of 96, was a “historical figure of the extreme right” whose “role in the public life of our country for almost seventy years (…) is now a matter for the judgment of history”declared the Elysée.

“The President of the Republic expresses his condolences to his family and loved ones”added the presidency, whose press release briefly retraces the biography of the co-founder of the National Front. A journey punctuated by controversies which earned him multiple convictions for insult, incitement to racial hatred or contestation of crimes against humanity.

Jean-Marie Le Pen “will have been a figure in French political life”beyond “controversies which were his favorite weapon and necessary confrontations on the merits”declared the Prime Minister, François Bayrou, adding: “We knew, fighting him, what a fighter he was.”

Many far-right elected officials have hailed Jean-Marie Le Pen as a “visionary” or a “precursor of the national movement”the president of the RN, Jordan Bardella, applauding a man who “always served France, defended its identity and sovereignty”. On the left, Jean-Luc Mélenchon maintains that “respect for the dignity of the dead and the grief of their loved ones does not erase the right to judge their actions”and calls for continued “the fight (…) against the hatred, racism, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism that he spread”.