LAST UPDATE | 28 Aug

AN IRISHMAN WHO admits threatening to kill a Jewish woman in France has been charged with offences including “apologising for crimes against humanity” and faces eight years in prison.

The 60-year-old, who cannot yet be named for legal reasons, now faces a fast-track trial in October at the Avignon Criminal Court.

It comes after a video emerged of a confrontation in a hypermarket in the southern city when a man said he would “put a bullet” in another woman’s head.

In turn, the Australian tourist, who has asked not to be named, also accused him of making antisemitic remarks referring to the wartime Holocaust, including: “I’m sorry Hitler didn’t finish the job”.

On Thursday, Avignon Prosecutor Stéphanie Aouine said the accused – who lives in France having moved from Ireland – had made a confession, saying his words followed an intense argument about Ireland’s policies towards Israel.

Aouine said: “He admitted to the facts while putting them in context – he stated that he regretted his remarks, explaining that he had let anger get the better of him.”

He will now stand trial on a date to be fixed in October for “Apology for crimes against humanity”, which can be punished by up to five years in prison and a €45,000 fine.

The Irishman will simultaneously stand trial for the “conditional threat of death”, which on conviction comes with a three-year sentence, and the same fine – €45,000.

The “conditional threat” in this case relates to the Irishman telling the Australian that he would shoot her if she did not stop following him and filming him around the hypermarket, while filming him.

Describing the verbal attack on 11 August, Aouine said the pair had started chatting “cordially” about the woman’s Australian husband wearing a France football shirt.

Then it “veered onto Ireland’s policy regarding Israel,” said Aouine.

Ireland has been a fierce critic of Israel’s military action in Palestine, officially accusing it of genocide and crimes against humanity following the killing of tens of thousands of men, women and children.

Aouine said: “The suspect then became aggressive and allegedly made antisemitic remarks.

‘The Australian holidaymaker took out her phone to film the scene. The man then tried to end the exchange by walking away, before threatening – in English – to kill her if they [the woman and her husband] did not leave him alone.”

The suspect was identified by CCTV footage and traced to his home near Avignon, before being taken into police custody on Wednesday.

Police raided his house, and seized “digital devices” and computers which have “yet to be analysed” for further evidence, said the prosecutor.

She added: “The Avignon public prosecutor’s office referred the individual to court via a summary procedure on charges of making conditional death threats and condoning crimes against humanity.”

Aouine also called for the suspect to be placed under “judicial supervision pending the hearing before the criminal court, which is expected to take place sometime in October.”

Announcing the suspect’s arrest on X on Wednesday evening, French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said: “Kudos to the gendarmes for their investigation following the antisemitic threats and remarks made against tourists this summer at a hypermarket in Le Pontet.”

Nunez added: “Antisemitism must be fought firmly and relentlessly.”