In July 2013, French
blogger Benjamin Charles-Lemaire revealed that Bourdouleix said
Adolf Hitler had not killed enough
Romani people. Bourdouleix, who had been faced with
Nazi salutes and accusations of
racism, is said to have stated about a group of Romani people in exasperation, "It's almost as if Hitler didn't kill enough [of them]." On 22 July these remarks were reported in the French newspaper ''Le Courrier de l'Ouest'' which led to a significant political outcry against Bourdouleix. Bourdouleix went on to defend himself saying, "You all call me Hitler, and you think that's okay, no?" He then went on to clarify, "[I said that] if I were Hitler, these people here would be killed. There, that's basically what I said." After Bourdouleix refuted comments published by Lemaire, ''Le Courrier de l'Ouest
published audio recording in order to verify their claims, and a forensic analysis of the recording certified it as authentic. This, along with the initial accusations, led to an investigation of Bourdouleix by the Criminal Court of Angers which charged him with condoning crimes against humanity and defamation of the newspaper Le Courrier de l'Ouest. ''On 23 January 2014 Bourdouleix was found guilty of the charge and was fined 3,000 euros, though his fine was suspended. On 12 August 2014 Bourdouleix's conviction was upheld by the
Court of Appeal. On 15 December 2015 the Court of Appeal cancelled the sentence. ==References==