Dieudonne M’bala M’bala has been acquitted over a video where he called for the release of a man who tortured and murdered a Jew in 2006.
The court ruled it could not prove the controversial French comedian was behind the video’s release.
Dieudonne M’bala M’bala, who has convictions for inciting hatred against Jews, had faced a fine of 20,000 euros ($27,000) or 200 days in prison.
France recently banned one of Dieudonne M’bala M’bala’s shows over concerns about anti-Semitism.
The comedian already owes 65,000 euros in fines for six convictions of hate speech against Jews.
Dieudonne M’bala M’bala has been acquitted over a video where he called for the release of a man who tortured and murdered a Jew in 2006
Last week, police raided several properties owned by Dieudonne M’bala M’bala as part a probe into alleged fraud.
The government accused Dieudonne M’bala M’bala of trying to bankrupt himself in order to avoid paying the fines.
The comedian has caused controversy in recent months with what many regard as anti-Semitic comments.
He has joked about gas chambers and is accused of deriding Holocaust survivors and victims.
His trademark “quenelle” gesture has been described by some as an “inverted Nazi salute”.
Dieudonne M’bala M’bala says the quenelle is an anti-establishment gesture, and denies that he is an anti-Semite, saying he is anti-Zionist.
In January, France’s highest court upheld a ban on Dieudonne M’bala M’bala’s one-man show The Wall (Le Mur), which contained sketches including the performer miming urination against the Western Wall in Jerusalem.
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Dieudonne M’Bala M’Bala has been questioned by police after bailiffs alleged they were fired on with rubber bullets at the French comedian’s house.
The bailiffs had said they could not ascertain who had opened fire but a weapon was later found during a search of Dieudonne M’Bala M’Bala’s property.
Dieudonne M’Bala M’Bala owes thousands of euros in unpaid fines for a range of offences, including anti-Semitic hate speech.
Dieudonne M’Bala M’Bala has been questioned by police after bailiffs alleged they were fired on with rubber bullets at the French comedian’s house
This month his show The Wall was banned on the opening night of its tour.
Dieudonne M’Bala M’Bala’s lawyer Sanjay Mirabeau said bailiffs had tried to gain access to the property on Monday evening by climbing over a fence.
The comic’s partner Noemie Montagne and the couple’s security staff asked the bailiffs to leave, Sanjay Mirabeau said.
Earlier this month a ban on Dieudonne M’Bala M’Bala’s one-man show The Wall was upheld by France’s highest court.
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Dieudonne M’bala M’bala, who has convictions for anti-Semitic hate speech in France, has dropped his controversial show Le Mur (The Wall) after it was banned.
The comedian told reporters in Paris he would no longer perform The Wall, after France’s highest court upheld a ban on the opening night of his tour on Thursday.
Citing “blatant political interference”, he said he wanted to perform a new show devoted to Africa.
This new show has already been banned by the authorities in Paris.
Interior Minister Manuel Valls is seeking to keep Dieudonne M’bala M’bala off all stages in France, condemning the comic’s “mechanics of hate”.
Dieudonne M’bala M’bala has dropped his controversial show Le Mur after it was banned
“The Dieudonne controversy and the Le Mur show are over,” Dieudonne M’bala M’bala said in a statement on French TV.
“Now, I think we will get a chance to laugh more intensely with my new show.”
“We live in a democratic country and I have to comply with the laws, despite the blatant political interference,” he said.
Dieudonne M’bala M’bala also denied being an anti-Semite.
Several police vans lined the street outside a Paris theatre where he had been due to perform on Saturday.
Supporters of Dieudonne M’bala M’bala and critics of the bans accuse the authorities of denying his freedom of speech.
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France’s highest court has reinstated a ban on controversial Dieudonne M’bala M’bala’s show just before it was due to open.
Interior Minister Manuel Valls appealed to the Council of State to intervene minutes after a judge in the city of Nantes overturned the ban.
Dieudonne M’bala M’bala has seven convictions for anti-Semitic hate speech.
He has already arrived at the theatre in Nantes, where more than 5,000 people were due to see the show.
Police have deployed outside the venue as a precaution. The verdict was greeted with boos and chants of Dieudonne M’bala M’bala’s name by those who had gathered to see the show.
On his Facebook page, Dieudonne M’bala M’bala appealed to those gathered outside Nantes’ Zenith theatre to return peacefully to their homes, saying he had been denied permission to address them.
The comic said that on Friday he would post a new video on his YouTube channel.
The judge in Nantes had earlier said he did not regard the show, entitled The Wall, as having “an attack on human dignity as its main object”.
But the Council of State upheld the ban on Thursday’s performance, the first on a scheduled tour, despite a challenge by the comic’s lawyers saying his freedom of expression had been breached.
France’s highest court has reinstated a ban on controversial Dieudonne M’bala M’bala’s show just before it was due to open
The council cited the risk to public order in its reinstatement of the ban.
The president of the World Jewish Congress, Ronald Lauder, had called on France to “confront this preacher of hate head on”.
The government can be satisfied that a man they regard as a dangerous anti-Semite has been kept from the public arena.
Dieudonne M’bala M’bala’s supporters will say it is just more evidence of how he and his ideas are silenced by the system, he adds.
French media who have sent reporters to previous performances of The Wall say it contained a string of derogatory references to Jews.
Speaking on Thursday from Brittany, Manuel Valls said that “peddlers of hate stop at nothing and show boundless creativity”.
“Faced with this creativity of hate, should we do nothing? Certainly not. The status quo is not a solution,” he said.
The French government made a concerted effort to stop the tour after Dieudonne M’bala M’bala was recorded making remarks about Jewish journalist Patrick Cohen.
“When I hear him talking, I say to myself: Patrick Cohen, hmm… the gas chambers… what a shame,” he was recorded as saying.
He has also been accused of deriding Holocaust survivors and victims in his material.
On Monday, Manuel Valls said he had advised city mayors and police prefects that Dieudonne M’bala M’bala’s show could be banned if it was deemed to present a threat to public order.
However, Dieudonne M’bala M’bala’s lawyer said banning the show would be a clear breach of the principle of free expression, and that contrary to government claims, there was no evidence that his performances were a threat to public order.
The comic remains booked to play at a series of French venues until June, although the cities of Bordeaux and Marseille have cancelled his performances and in light of the latest ruling, it is not clear whether the rest of the tour can go ahead.
Dieudonne M’bala M’bala denies his trademark quenelle gesture is an inverted Nazi salute, instead describing it as an anti-establishment sign.
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