© AFP
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French actress and animal activist Brigitte Bardot was sentenced on Thursday to a fine of 20,000 euros for racist statements against the residents of La Réunion, a French overseas department east of Madagascar. In 2019, the actress called them “an indigenous people who have not yet lost their wild genes”. Her spokesperson also has to pay a considerable sum of money.
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Source: BELGIAN
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In 2019, Brigitte Bardot set up a foundation in La Réunion, intended to protect the animals in the overseas department. She then wrote in an open letter to Amaury de Saint-Quentin, who was prefect there, about the cruelty with which the inhabitants of La Réunion treat animals. “The indigenous people have not yet lost their wild genes,” she wrote. She also called the island “the island of the devil, with a dilapidated population still steeped in barbarian traditions”.
The letter caused a lot of indignation, including among Annick Girardin, who was French minister of the Overseas Departments at the time of the facts. “Racism is not an opinion, it is a crime,” she said. In the end, Brigitte Bardot did apologize, justifying her anger by referring to the “tragic situation” she believes the animals on the island are in.
On October 7, when the trial started, the prosecutor’s office ordered a fine of 25,000 euros for the actress and activist, and 5,000 euros for her spokesperson Bruno Jacquelin for complicity. Jacquelin further distributed the letter to various news media. On Thursday, November 4, the two were eventually sentenced to fines of 20,000 and 4,000 euros respectively.
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