The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Tuesday ruled that a conviction of hate speech by the French judiciary against far-right figure Eric Zemmour did not violate his right to freedom of speech.

This comes after Zemmour, a politician, former presidential candidate and TV pundit, was convicted in 2016 after he compared Muslims to terrorists on television, claiming that France was victim to "an invasion, a colonization" by Muslims - calling on French Muslims to "choose between Islam and France."

Two years later, a Paris Appeals court deemed his comments discriminatory and requested him to pay a fine of €3,000 ($3,188) for inciting discrimination, hatred or violence. The court ruled that the politician's aim was to "stoke a rift between the French and the Muslim community as a whole,"

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The ECHR said, "The interference with [Zemmour's] right to freedom of expression had been necessary in a democratic society to protect the rights of others which had been at stake in the case", emphasizing that he has journalistic "duties and responsibilities" to abide by and was aware of the scope and consequences of his words on national television.

However, this does not count as Zemmour's first encounter with the law as he has been previously involved in numerous cases regarding racially discriminatory remarks and hate speech. 

For instance, back in 2010, he was charged with incitement to racial hatred after justifying discrimination against Black and Arab people.

Back in March, Zemmour faced allegations of rape and sexual abuse after several women came forward to testify that he had assaulted them. Eight women claimed Zemmour used his position as a prominent journalist in France to make unwanted sexual advances toward them from 1999 to 2019.