Jean-Marie Le Pen espoused racist and antisemitic rhetoric that landed him in legal trouble in France, where Holocaust denial is illegal.

Once called the 'most hated man in France', Le Pen maintained that his ideas were simply 'ahead of their time'

A Holocaust denier and unrepentant extremist on race and immigration, the far-right politician has died at 96.

For years, the far-right National Rally tried to distance itself from Mr. Le Pen’s racist and antisemitic remarks. But after his death Tuesday, it hailed him as a visionary.

“History will judge” the legacy of far-Right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, Emmanuel Macron has said. The French president’s comments came as he and his government avoided any outright criticism of the late firebrand following his death on Tuesday aged 96.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the French far-right political party the National Front, has died aged 96, a senior party official has announced.

He was known for his fiery anti-immigrant rhetoric that earned him both staunch support and widespread condemnation.

Le Pen - an unrepentant extremist on race, gender and immigration - founded the far-right National Front in 1972.

The church Notre-Dame du Val de Grace, in Paris, has been the scene of the tribute with a religious ceremony to the founder of the French National Front, Jean-Marie Le Pen, who died last Tuesday at the age of 96.