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Bardot Talks

Jun 3, 2008
By .
Law, Politics & Current Events

And Bardot is fined, 15,000 Euros, for speaking her mind.

Mark Steyn isn't the only person in a supposedly liberal western country on trial for the crime of having an opinion and not being afraid to state it. Brigitte Bardot, who in better times was considered a symbol of France, has just been successfully prosecuted for the crime of writing then French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy in 2006 to urge that French Muslims be required to stun animals before slaughtering them (as apparently everyone else in France is required to do). So far as we can tell Ms. Bardot, who is now 73, may have some bad opinions about French Muslims, but her main concern is prevention of animal cruelty.

That Ms. Bardot can pay the fine is immaterial. She's been prosecuted and found guilty for the crime of expressing her opinion in an attempt to petition her own government. Unbelievable.

Previous blogging about this, and a sweet picture of Ms. Bardot in earlier days, can be found here.

Last 5 posts by Patrick

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2 Comments

  1. Ken  •  Jun 3, 2008 @11:14 am

    Obscure Sidney Lumet reference FTW.

    Bardot's anti-Muslim rhetoric is obnoxious and bespeaks possibly senility. But fining her for using it in a letter to the political elite? Embarrassing. Even for the French.

  2. Andrew  •  Jun 3, 2008 @12:01 pm

    A bit more context from an earlier article in The Guardian on the trial:

    " 'I am fed up with being under the thumb of this population which is destroying us, destroying our country and imposing its acts,' she wrote. The letter was later published by Bardot's foundation.

    It is the fifth time that Bardot has been charged with inciting racial hatred. She has previously railed against what she termed 'the Islamisation of France' and claimed that the nation was being invaded by 'sheep-slaughtering Muslims', comments that have led to her being fined four times since 1997. "

    Clearly, French hate crime laws unduly restrict free speech. But to say that she was prosecuted for what she said about animal slaughter is a bit disingenuous. It's the other stuff she wrote that brought the P.C. Gendarmerie.

    Unrelated but fun quote from Grumpy Bardot's Wikipedia page: "Not even French prostitutes are what they used to be."