Dieudonne M’bala M’bala to go on trial for Paris attacks comment

Dieudonne M’bala M’bala is set to go on trial for a Facebook comment appearing to back Paris gunman Amedy Coulibaly.

The comment referred to a series of three attacks in Paris in January in which 17 people were killed.

The controversial French Comedian is charged with condoning terrorism.

If found guilty, Dieudonne M’bala M’bala could face up to 7 years in jail and a €5,000 ($5,900) fine.

He already has several convictions for inciting anti-Semitism.

Following a massive march in Paris to condemn the attacks, Dieudonne M’bala M’bala wrote on his Facebook account: “I feel like Charlie Coulibaly [French: je me sens Charlie Coulibaly].”

The statement combined the “Je Suis Charlie” slogan adopted worldwide after the Paris attacks with the name of one of the three gunmen involved in the attacks.

AmedyCoulibaly killed a policewoman near a Jewish school on January 8 before going on to hold up kosher supermarket HyperCacher the following day, when he murdered four Jewish hostages.

On January 7, two gunmen killed 12 people at magazine Charlie Hebdo, a satirical magazine that has frequently launched withering attacks on religion, including depictions of the Prophet Muhammad.

Dieudonne M’bala M’bala’s comment drew an angry response from many in France.

French PM Manuel Valls said that freedom of speech should not be confused with anti-Semitism, racism and Holocaust denial.

After Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said he had asked the authorities to investigate Dieudonne M’bala M’bala’s remarks, the comedian posted a response on his Facebook page, arguing that he was being treated as a public enemy when all he wanted to do was make people laugh.

The comedian’s detention drew claims of double standards over free speech from some quarters in France.

Dieudonne M’bala M’bala is also facing an inquiry into whether he condoned terrorism in a video in which he mocked the beheading of US journalist James Foley by Islamic State militants.

He was acquitted last year over comments made in a video in which he called for the release of a man who tortured and murdered Ilan Halimi, a Jewish man, in Paris in 2006.

Dieudonne M’bala M’bala has attracted controversy over his trademark “quenelle” gesture. It has been called an inverted Nazi salute, but the comic argues it was intended to be anti-establishment.

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