France's Jean-Marie Le Pen fined for homophobic remarks

French far-right politician Jean-Marie Le Pen was fined and ordered to pay damages Wednesday for a string of homophobic remarks, including one targeting a gay policeman killed in a jihadist attack last year.

The 90-year-old member of the European parliament, who founded the National Front -- recently renamed the National Rally -- already has multiple convictions for xenophobic and anti-Semitic comments.

He was found guilty of three counts of making homophobic remarks, along with one of inciting hatred or violence.

In one case he suggested the partner of policeman Xavier Jugele, shot dead in Paris in April 2017, should not have spoken so freely of his love at a national memorial ceremony.

"I think this family trait should have been kept away from such a ceremony which would have benefited from more discretion," Le Pen said at the time in a video blog.

Jugele was killed while on duty on the Champs-Elysees avenue. His attacker was shot dead by police.

The policeman's partner Etienne Cardiles had delivered a moving eulogy at the remembrance ceremony, led by then president Francois Hollande.

Le Pen, whose daughter Marine is the current leader of the National Rally, was fined 400 euros for the comment and ordered to pay Cardiles 5,000 euros in damages.

Le Pen was also found guilty of hate speech for a comment made to Le Figaro newspaper in 2016, when he said that "homosexuals are like salt in soup. If there isn't enough it's a bit bland; when there's too much, it's inedible." And he was convicted for suggesting a link between homosexuality and paedophilia in a video on his blog the same year.

Le Pen was sentenced in these cases to another 400 euro fine, along with 2,000 euros in damages to Mousse, a gay rights group which had sued him.

Le Pen's lawyer Frederic Joachim said his client would appeal. Le Pen sits as an independent member of the European Parliament after being thrown out of his party by his daughter in 2015.

The younger Le Pen, who has struggled to rid her party of a reputation for anti-Semitism and racism, said her father was no longer welcome after he said the Nazi gas chambers were a mere "detail" of history.