(Paris) French polemicist Dieudonné M’bala M’bala was found not guilty on appeal Thursday in Paris, after being convicted at first instance, for racist insult in 2020 towards the writer and actress Rachel Khan, described as a “negress “.

Dieudonné was on trial for having declared, in a video of October 6, 2020, in “response” to Rachel Khan: “You will remain a poor black woman at the end of the story”.

Dieudonné, once considered one of the best comedians of his generation, fell into controversy and anti-Semitism 20 years ago, which earned him multiple legal convictions.

On September 15, 2022, he was sentenced by the Paris Criminal Court to a 10,000 euro ($14,500) day fine – a fine that, if not paid, could result in prison.

He had appealed. And on Thursday, the court of appeal overturned this decision and released the defendant. His motives were not immediately available.

“We are really happy to have been heard to the extent that Dieudonné has defined himself for a very long time as a “negro” and that word for him is absolutely not insulting,” reacted Me Karim Laouafi, his lawyer.

Born in 1966 to a Cameroonian father who is a chartered accountant and a Breton sociologist mother, he has dual French and Cameroonian nationality.

Ms. Khan’s lawyer, Mr. Richard Malka, announced that he was filing a cassation appeal.

The international league against racism and anti-Semitism (Licra), civil party, will do the same.

“I find the decision extremely surprising,” said Me Ilana Soskin, lawyer for the association. The remarks “constitute an extremely outrageous racial insult,” she added.

Dieudonné’s escapades are numerous. In 2003, on television, the comedian concluded with a Nazi salute a failed sketch for which he had disguised himself as an extremist Jew.

Swiss justice also convicted him in 2023 for racial discrimination, for having denied the existence of gas chambers during a show.