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Jean-Marie Le Pen repeats Holocaust comments in European Parliament

MEPs have moved to prevent the 80-year-old French National Front leader from presiding over the opening of the first session of the new European Parliament on July 14 as the doyen of the house.

Officials have also indicated that he could face disciplinary action for "bringing the parliament into disrepute" by using his immunity as an MEP to avoid criminal prosecution for Holocaust denial.

Mr Le Pen on Wednesday caused a storm in the parliament by defiantly hitting back at "inflammatory accusations" that he was a convicted Holocaust denier who should be denied his right next year to become "father" of the Parliament as the oldest sitting MEP. Mr Le Pen will celebrate his 81st birthday following European elections in June, making him the parliament's oldest member.

"I just said that the gas chambers were a detail of Second World War history, which is clear," he told a sitting of the EU assembly.

Read entire article at Telegraph (UK)