The trial opened on Wednesday of Jean-Marie Le Pen, 93, founder of France's far-right Front National party (now renamed Rassemblement National), for an anti-Semitic jibe he made in an online video targeting French Jewish singer Patrick Bruel.
Jean-Marie Le Pen, who founded the country's Front National party now renamed and led by his estranged daughter Marine, has been admitted to hospital for reported exhaustion one week before his 90th birthday and just hours before he was due to stand trial accused of inciting homophobia.
Jean-Marie Le Pen, 87, was convicted of contesting crimes against humanity with remark that WWII extermination gas chambers were "a detail" of history.
Jany Le Pen, wife of the founder of France's far-right Front National party, Jean-Marie Le Pen, has held a secret bank account in Switzerland, according to information obtained by Mediapart. That brings to three the number of hidden Swiss accounts associated with Jean-Marie Le Pen, and France's special prosecutor for financial fraud is now understood to be investigating the former FN president's financial affairs in Switzerland. The affair also throws the spotlight on socialite Jany Le Pen, Jean-Marie's second wife, to whom he has been married for 24 years. Though she usually steers clear of party political issues, Jany Le Pen has on occasions acted as the FN founder's de facto emissary. Karl Laske and Marine Turchi look at the new allegations and examine the profile of a woman who has shared Jean-Marie Le Pen's life for more than a quarter of a century.
