Jacques Coutela’s blog, which was taken down on Tuesday, contained remarks which characterized Breivik as a “resister”, an “icon” and “the first defender of the west.”

“He has been suspended from his duties and will appear in front of a disciplinary committee,” the general secretary of the FN, Steeve Briois, told AFP. Coutela was a candidate in the regional elections in March.

“The reason for the Norwegian nationalist’s terrorist acts was to combat the Muslim invasion, that’s what’s being hidden from you,” he wrote.

Coutela told AFP that he hadn’t written the words himself. “I found them on the internet and published them on my blog.”

A complaint for incitement of racial hatred has been launched by anti-racism movement Mrap (Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l’amitié entre les peuples).

On Monday, another FN member, Laurent Ozon, was attacked for remarks he made on Twitter that suggested to some that the Norwegian attacks could be explained by an increase in the number of immigrants.

“How to explain the Oslo drama: sixfold explosion of immigration between 1970 and 2009,” he wrote.

Ozon told AFP that party leader Marine Le Pen had reprimanded him for his remarks.