“Why do you think that the French people would be the only people to want a fascist as a leader?” Mélenchon said after being shown a poll that showed Le Pen was the leading candidate for the first round of voting.
A court in Paris ruled that Mélenchon’s use of the word fascist was fair comment.
“If the term fascist can have insulting connotations when used outside of any political context or if accompanied by other demeaning terms, it has, on the other hand, no insulting character when employed between political opponents on a political subject,” the court said before adding that Mélenchon’s description of Le Pen was within the “limits of freedom of expression”.
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