French Far-Right Leadre Jean-Marie Le Pen Dies At 96

Jean-Marie Le Pen, the historic leader of France’s far-right, died on Tuesday aged 96, his family told AFP.

Le Pen, who had been in a care home for several weeks, died at midday (1100 GMT) Tuesday “surrounded by his loved ones”, the family said in a statement.

Le Pen, the National Front’s co-founder, won the second round of the presidential election in 2002 with a steadfast anti-immigration platform, sending shockwaves through France.

He infamously dismissed the Holocaust as a historical detail and was frequently accused of racism and anti-Semitism.

In 2011, his daughter Marine Le Pen removed him from the party’s leadership and demanded that she discredit him for her extremist views.

The party, since renamed National Rally (RN), has made significant inroads.

It won the first general election in France after showing strong gains in the previous year’s European Parliament elections.

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Jordan Bardella, RN party chief and the right-hand man of Marine Le Pen, said in a carefully worded tribute that Jean-Marie Le Pen had “always served France”.

He always served France and upheld its identity and sovereignty, the 29-year-old said on X.

“Today I am thinking with sadness of his family, his loved ones, and of course of Marine, whose mourning must be respected”.

Source: Channels TV