LYON, France - A court in Lyon convicted a far-right leader and member of
the European Parliament on Thursday and fined him for questioning the
existence of Nazi gas chambers.

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The court convicted Bruno Gollnisch, the No. 2 in France's National Front
party, of "disputing a crime against humanity," gave him a three-month
suspended sentence and ordered him to pay a $6,450 fine, court officials said.

Prosecutors had asked for a fine double that amount.

At an October 2004 news conference, Gollnisch questioned whether the Nazis used gas chambers in the Holocaust and suggested that the number of Jews killed during World War II might have been exaggerated.

Gollnisch's comments sparked uproar among Jewish and anti-racism groups, and he was suspended by Jean Moulin University in Lyon, where he taught law and Japanese, for five years over the remarks.

The European Parliament stripped Gollnisch of his legislative immunity from prosecution.

Gollnisch has said he is a victim of a "witch hunt" in the case.

The conviction comes the same day President Jacques Chirac is to honor French people who rescued Jews from the Nazis in a ceremony in Paris.