Strasbourg, 13/12/2005 (Agence Europe) - In its adoption, on Tuesday, at a vote by a show of hands, of the report by Diana Wallis (ADLE, United Kingdom), the Parliament has denied French Front National member Bruno Gollnisch the benefit of his parliamentary immunity as part of the case brought by the French justice system for comments he made at a press conference in Lyons on 11 October 2004. The report, which notes that Mr Gollnisch's words "were interpreted as his having questioned the crimes against humanity committed by the Nazi regime", bases its decision largely on the fact that Mr Gollnisch "was not using his freedom of expression 'within the exercise of his duties' as a member of the European Parliament". The day before, during the debate, Mr Gollnisch found support only from members of his own party. In justification of the refusal to defend Mr Gollnisch's immunity, Diana Wallis explained that the circumstances in which he used the words in question "do not allow us to say that he was using his mandate as a member of the European Parliament". Speaking for the EPP-ED group, Roselyne Bachelot of France said: "I do not hate you, any more than I want to go along with you as a member of the European Parliament in this row which you decided to cause, in full awareness of what you were doing". Immunity does not exist to protect the MEP, but the integrity of the Parliament by its representatives who, in the exercise of their duties, "must enjoy immunity which is directly linked to the exercise of their mandate", she said, adding that Mr Gollnisch had made these comments in Lyons, "which is a long way from his constituency in the north-east of France, and he was not speaking in his capacity as a member of the European Parliament", Maria Berger (PES, Austria) invited Bruno Gollnisch to her constituency to take note of the existence of gas chambers in Mauthausen. Stating that Mr Gollnisch had not spoken in his capacity as a member of the European Parliament, Adeline Hazan (PES, France) said that "as a good student of Jean-Marie Le Pen, Mr Gollnisch has tried to equal his master", but that "freedom of expression should not be used to justify the intolerable". Front National MEP Lydia Schenardi, on the other hand, criticised report which, in her view, is a "scandal" and "hypocrisy", in both form and substance.