France: European Court rejects Le Pen's appeal
01 November 2000
Jean-Marie Le Pen, the extreme right-wing leader of France's fragmented Front National (FN), lost his seat in the European Parliament in October after the European Court of Human Rights rejected his appeal against disqualification. Le Pen, who was appealing against his 1998 conviction for attacking a woman Socialist candidate during the 1997 election campaign, described the assault as "a minor incident". He denounced the Court's ruling as a "major injustice" and said that he would stand a candidate in the presidential election of 2002.