OK now here's a different twist on freedom of speech...
What the heck does “private insults of a racial nature” actually mean?
"Private insult"?
PARIS — A cabinet minister and close friend of President Nicolas Sarkozy faced fresh calls for his resignation Friday after a Paris court found him guilty of making racist comments and ordered him to pay compensation.
Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux was given a €750, or $900, fine and asked to pay an anti-racism group €2,000 in damages for what the judge called “private insults of a racial nature.”
Mr. Hortefeux will appeal “immediately,” according to his lawyer, Nicolas Benoît.
The verdict comes nine months after Mr. Hortefeux was recorded on camera at an event in southwestern France on Sept. 5 making what to many sounded like anti-Arab remarks.