John Galliano found guilty of antiSemitic abuse

John Galliano at the Paris Court where he was found guilty. Fashion designer John Galliano was Thursday found guilty of anti-Semitism and handed a suspended fine over a series of drunken outbursts against fellow customers in a Paris bar. In the February incident, a French couple having a beer outside La Perle bar in Paris\'s Marais district said he repeatedly insulted them with lines including \"dirty Jewish face\", \"fucking ugly Jewish bitch\" and \"fucking Asian bastard\". Geraldine Bloch, 35, said he first asked her to shut up, then criticised her clothes, hair, thighs, eyebrows and makeup. He made 30 anti-Jewish insults in the space of 45 minutes, she said. Another woman said he made similar insults to her in the same bar in October.
At Galliano\'s trial in June, the state prosecutor had requested judges fine Galliano saying that although he was not a \"theoretician\" of race hatred or antisemitism, this was \"everyday antisemitism and racism\" which she said was \"pitiful and dreadful\".
The 50-year-old British designer, who was sacked from fashion house Dior over the scandal, was handed total suspended fines totalling 6,000 euros (8,400 dollars) over two incidents, in February this year and October 2010. Galliano -- who had faced a maximum of six months in jail and a fine of 22,500 euros on the charge of making anti-Semitic insults -- was not in court to hear the verdict.
The Paris criminal court also ordered him to pay a symbolic euro in damages to each of his victims, as well as to five anti-racism groups that were plaintiffs in the case. He was also ordered to cover the legal costs of four anti-racism bodies. One of the most celebrated designers of his generation, Galliano had been at the creative helm of Christian Dior for 15 years, as well as running his own label, until the outburst brought his career crashing to a halt.
At his one-day trial in July, he apologised for his conduct. \"Antisemitism and racism have no part in our society. I unreservedly apologise for my behaviour in causing any offence.\"
Galliano insists he is not an anti-Semite but admits he can not remember the evenings in question, blaming a \"triple addiction\" to drink, sleeping pills and painkillers for his behaviour.
The designer told the court he had since undergone two months of rehab in Arizona and Switzerland.