By Peter Allen PUBLISHED: 15:57 EST, 25 July 2013 | UPDATED: 03:55 EST, 29 July 2013 'Jerk': The change follows a ruling that France violated a demonstrator's freedom of expression when he referred to Nicolas Sarkozy with the word Being rude to the President of France is no longer an automatic criminal offence, France’s parliament agreed today. In the interests of free speech, MPs revoked legislation dating back to 1881 when anything judged to have ‘offended the head of state’ risked an automatic fine. The change followed the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruling in March that France violated a demonstrator’s right to freedom of expression when he referred to Nicolas Sarkozy as a ‘jerk’.
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European Court of Human Rights ruled France violated a protester's right to free speech when he was prosecuted for calling Nicolas Sarkozy a 'jerk'
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Current French president Francois Hollande regularly mocked, with his figure earning him the nickname 'flanby' after a wobbly caramel dessert
year @placeholder deemed the punishment handed down to Sarkozy’s tormentor as