Bob Dylan has been charged with insulting behaviour and incitement to hatred in France after a Croat group filed a complaint about an interview in Rolling Stone magazine, a judicial source said on Monday.

The American singer was questioned and charged in mid-November after the group complained about the interview, in which he allegedly compared the relationship between Jews and Nazis to that of Serbs and Croats.

The Council of Croats in France (CRICCF) had filed the complaint a year ago over an analogy he made in the 2012 interview while discussing slavery in the United States.

"This country is just too fucked up about colour… People at each other's throats just because they are of a different colour," Dylan told Rolling Stone last year.

"Blacks know that some whites didn't want to give up slavery – that if they had their way, they would still be under the yoke, and they can't pretend they don't know that.

"If you got a slave master or Klan in your blood, blacks can sense that. That stuff lingers to this day. Just like Jews can sense Nazi blood and the Serbs can sense Croatian blood."

Last month, the 72-year-old music legend picked up France's Legion d'Honneur award, which can be granted to any foreigner seen as having served France's interests or upheld its values.

A representative of Dylan's label said he was not aware of the proceedingsagainst the star, while the CRICCF refused to immediately comment.