A French far-right party has given its support to a Holocaust denier arrested in a Scots fishing village last week.
Vincent Reynouard was apprehended in Anstruther on Thursday, November 10, on a Trade and Co-operation Agreement warrant issued in France, two years after he fled the country following a conviction under strict anti-Nazi laws.
Reports in France suggest that authorities are seeking Reynouard’s extradition for spreading revisionist propaganda.
The 53-year-old has multiple convictions in his native country spanning decades for comments he has made denying the existence of the Holocaust and distortion of the Oradour-sur-Glane massacre.
READ MORE: Notorious Holocaust denier arrested in Scots fishing village
Following news of his arrest, far-right party The Party of France (Le Parti de la France), which was created by former members of the National Front in 2009, issued a statement in support of Reynouard.
It read: “Whatever one might think of the theses developed by Vincent Reyno*ard, the stalking and judicial aggression he has been subjected to for years is completely disproportionate for simple writings.
“Arrested in Scotland, he is under an extradition request to be tried again and jailed in France for spreading revisionist propaganda.
“The Party of France reminds that it is in favor of the abolition of all memorial and liberticide laws that paralyze freedom of expression in our country.”
Meanwhile Jean-Claude Leblois, president of the Departmental Council of Haute-Vienne in southwest-central France, welcomed news of the arrest.
He said it is "an opportunity, once again, to recall the need to remember and never trivialize such acts of hatred” in reference to Reynouard’s name being linked to an open investigation into the vandalism of the Oradour-sur-Glane Memorial Centre, which commemorates the Oradour-sur-Glane massacre.
Benoît Sadry, president of the National Association of Families of Martyrs, told TV station France 3 Limousin: "This is an arrest which proves that the investigation is continuing, even today. At the time, his name and the graffiti aroused real emotion in the community and among the families of Oradour, so we are satisfied with his arrest.
“We will see the consequences, but it is a strong sign showing that people who are convicted, even outside of France, cannot be in a position of impunity, and this is an essential point in this arres .
"Then, whether he is directly or indirectly involved, his prose, on social networks in particular, his provocative, sometimes hateful, negationist and revisionist remarks are shocking.
“It's a whole particular context with him because, he has a video and several writings where he contested the very elements of the massacre, in particular the massacre in the church, so for the families, it was shocking.”
The French Interior Ministry confirmed to The Herald that the arrest came as a result of cooperation between French and Scottish authorities.
A spokesperson said: “We confirm this information and our cooperation, handled by the meticulous work of the officers of the Central Office for the Fight against Hate Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity (OCLCH).”
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