(MENAFN) French far-right figure Eric Zemmour saw his convictions for hate speech and defamation become definitive on Tuesday, after the Court of Cassation dismissed his most recent appeals.

The nation’s supreme judicial body confirmed previous judgments that had found him guilty for statements targeting unaccompanied migrant minors, as well as remarks directed at a lawyer in a separate legal matter.

The court upheld that Zemmour, founder and current leader of the Reconquete party, was “rightly” convicted for complicity in public insult and incitement to hatred.

These charges stemmed from comments he made on the CNews channel in 2020, during which he labeled unaccompanied migrant minors as “thieves,” “murderers” and “rapists.”

He was instructed to pay a fine of €10,000 ($11,637), according to a media outlet.

Judges noted that his statements “exceeded the permissible limits of freedom of expression due to their violence and generality,” emphasizing that they could not be defended even in the context of ongoing debates surrounding France’s immigration policy.

Under French media law, Jean-Christophe Thiery de Bercegol du Moulin, the editor-in-chief of CNews at the time, was found guilty of the primary offenses and fined €3,000.

Previously, CNews itself had been penalized €200,000 by the former audiovisual regulator CSA (now Arcom), a sanction that was later confirmed by the Conseil d’Etat.

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