Controversial comedian Dieudonné was fined 8,000 euros (about $11,725 Canadian) in Rennes on Monday for “obtaining property obtained by fraud” after renting a room in a castle without informing the owners , that it was intended for his show.
In addition to the fine, the 57-year-old Dieudonné was sentenced by the criminal court to an additional prison sentence of two years.
At the end of February 2023, Dieudonné held an exhibition in a castle in a village in the Rennes region, without the owners of the room having any knowledge of the artist's identity when renting it.
The prosecution was initiated by the public prosecutor's office even though the owners had not filed a complaint. At the hearing on January 8, the prosecution requested eight months in prison and a five-year ban.
The court ruled on Monday that the polemicist “could not have overlooked the unlawful conditions of the rental of this room.”
The reservation was made by the president of the production company Kamdo. Introduced by the president as Dieudonné's companion, the young woman was charged with fraud. She was fined €2,000 and disqualified for one year.
The two defendants and their lawyer were not present in the courtroom for the verdict hearing.
During the hearing on January 8, Dieudonné had taken refuge behind his role as an artist who had no responsibility to the companies that provided the logistics and organization of his shows. “My job is to be ready for action in front of the public on D-Day. “I’m not dealing with that (the room rental, editor’s note),” he said at the bar, denouncing a “political desire to silence him.”
A former pal of Elie Semoun, the one-time TV darling once considered one of the best comedians of his generation, Dieudonné became embroiled in controversy and anti-Semitism twenty years ago, which earned him a court conviction.