Bruno Gollnisch

Bruno Gollnisch was prosecuted in the Front national European parliamentary assistants case over the employment of several staff members whose work the judges considered to have benefited the party rather than their parliamentary duties. Convicted at first instance in 2025, he was again found guilty on appeal on 7 July 2026. The court imposed a three-year suspended prison sentence, a fine of 25 000 euros and a one-year disqualification from standing for election.

Attribution

Established by a court

During the break between Marine Le Pen and Jean-Marie Le Pen, Bruno Gollnisch continued publicly supporting the FN's founder and participated in dissident events. In 2016, the party leadership asked Gollnisch and Marie-Christine Arnautu to leave their executive positions after attending a gathering organised around Jean-Marie Le Pen. Gollnisch submitted his resignation from the political bureau, which Marine Le Pen ultimately refused.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Political responsibility

During the Front national's 1 May 2015 march, Bruno Gollnisch was filmed striking equipment belonging to Canal+ journalists with his umbrella and grabbing a boom pole or microphone. The incident occurred on a day marked by several confrontations and attacks against journalists.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

In 2013, Bruno Gollnisch was photographed making a 'quenelle' gesture alongside Dieudonné. The gesture, popularised by the comedian and denounced by numerous organisations as an antisemitic sign or an inverted reference to the Nazi salute, caused particular controversy given Gollnisch's longstanding ties with Dieudonné.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

While Louis Aliot stated in early 2012 that the FN had broken ties with Hungary's Jobbik, Bruno Gollnisch publicly declared that he continued to work with the party in the European Parliament and in the Alliance européenne des mouvements nationaux, which he chaired. This position highlighted tensions between Marine Le Pen's strategy of 'de-demonisation' and Gollnisch's continued alliances with more radical parties.

State of the evidence

Admitted by the person

Attribution

Political responsibility

In April 2012, at the end of a rally in Lyon, Bruno Gollnisch made several violent remarks to journalists in a tone described as provocative or ironic, notably stating that there was no point in booing the press but that it should be 'massacred', then asking his interlocutors whether they thought he would hesitate to 'shoot' them.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Personally implicated

French proceedings concerned a statement published on 3 October 2008 by the Front national group in the Rhône-Alpes regional council, then chaired by Bruno Gollnisch, over alleged incitement to racial hatred. Prosecutors requested the lifting of his parliamentary immunity, which the European Parliament granted in 2011, finding no indication of political persecution.

State of the evidence

Documented

In October 2004, Bruno Gollnisch made remarks downplaying the scale of the Holocaust, notably saying that he did not dispute the existence of gas chambers without expressing a view on their number. Lyon-III University sanctioned him with a five-year exclusion. He was also convicted at first instance and on appeal of Holocaust denial, but the Court of Cassation quashed the conviction without remittal on 23 June 2009, bringing the criminal proceedings to an end.

Attribution

Personally implicated

Course of the proceedings

1. Formally charged — Formal charge before the current outcome

In December 2006, Bruno Gollnisch led a large delegation with other FN officials to Dieudonné's show at the Zénith in Paris. The context of the performance, including references to Robert Faurisson and controversial segments concerning the Holocaust and Jewish organisations, fuelled allegations of closer ties between certain FN officials, Dieudonné and networks regularly implicated in antisemitism.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated