Former sex icon Brigitte Bardot, 73, was found guilty Tuesday in an ongoing racial hatred case.
A Paris court convicted the French animal rights campaigner of provoking discrimination and racial hatred, and fined her $23,325. She was also ordered to pay $1,555 in damages to MRAP, a leading French anti-racism group.
MRAP filed a lawsuit last year after receiving a letter Bardot sent to then-Interior Minister and current President Nicolas Sarkozy.
"[France is] tired of being led by the nose by this population that is destroying us, destroying our country by imposing its acts," Bardot wrote in the letter, which was later published in MRAP's quarterly journal.
The former screen siren was reportedly referring to Aid el-Kabir, a Muslim feast that is celebrated by slaughtering sheep.
Bardot has been found guilty of four prior counts of inciting racial hatred.
"She is tired of this type of proceedings," said Francois-Xavier Kelidjian, Bardot's lawyer, noting he would ask his client about the possibility of an appeal. "She has the impression that people want to silence her. She will not be silenced in her defense of animal rights."
