[From the "2011 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices" part on France]

In December 2010 the Fort-de-France Criminal Court on Martinique convicted businessman Alain Huygues-Despointes for praising crimes against humanity. The conviction stemmed from a 2009 television interview in which Huygues-Despointes stated there were “positive aspects” of slavery and criticized mixed-race marriages because he wanted to “preserve” his race. The judge ordered him to pay a 7,500 euro ($9,750) fine. The Fort-de-France criminal court subsequently rejected Huygues-Despointes’s appeal and ordered him ordered to pay a 20,000 euro ($26,000) fine as well as pay for the full-page publication of the judgment against him in the local newspapers. Huygues-Despointes filed an appeal with the court of cassation; a court date had not been set by year’s end.