Jean-Marie Le Pen, the French politician who for decades promoted far-right ideas in France, has died in Garches at the age of 96.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, the French politician, died in Garches at the age of 96.

The co-founder of the National Front, which became the National Rally in 2018, has died in hospital, where he was admitted a few weeks ago.

"Jean-Marie Le Pen, surrounded by his family, was called back to God at 12 noon on Tuesday," his family said in a statement sent to AFP.

He has been gradually withdrawing from political life since 2011, when his daughter Marine Le Pen took over as party president.

A serious provocateur, obsessed with immigration and Jews, a patriarch of the right who is thwarted by his own people, Jean-Marie Le Pen has brought the party from the political fringes.

The most emblematic of his successes remains in history. On 21 April 2002, at the age of 73 and on his fourth run for the Elysee Palace, he surprisingly qualified for the second round of the election.

The triumph had its flip side: for two weeks, millions of people marched against racism and its political incarnation.

Above all, Jean-Marie Le Pen facilitated the re-election of her sworn enemy Jacques Chirac.

The "menhir" (elongated, sharp stone - ed.) has never expressed regret for his scandalous actions, which have brought him several court convictions: from the gas chambers in Nazi Germany, which he called "a detail of history", to the "inequality of races" (1996), to the "not particularly inhumane" German occupation (2005) or the physical attack on a socialist opponent (1997).

"Enlisted in the uniform of the French army in Indochina and Algeria, voice of the people in the National Assembly and the European Parliament, he has always served France and defended its identity and sovereignty," wrote in X the president of the National Assembly party, Jordan Bardella, successor of Jean-Marie Le Pen's National Front. | BGNES