PARIS — French far-right politician Jean-Marie Le Pen has died aged 96, according to a family statement shared with AFP.

Le Pen, who had been in a care facility for several weeks, died at midday on Tuesday "surrounded by his loved ones", the family said.

Le Pen - a Holocaust denier and an unrepentant extremist on race, gender and immigration - founded the French far-right National Front party in 1972.

He reached the presidential election-run off against Jacques Chirac in 2002.

Le Pen's daughter, Marine, took over as party chief in 2011. She has since rebranded the party as National Rally, turning it into one of France's main political forces.

Jordan Bardella, who succeeded Marine Le Pen as party chair in 2022, said Jean-Marie had "always served France" and "defended its identity and sovereignty".

Far-right nationalist Eric Zemmour said on X that "beyond the controversies and the scandals" Le Pen would be remembered for being "among the first to alert France of the existential threats lurking".

Respecting the dignity of the dead and the grief of their family "does not cancel out the right to judge their actions. Those of Jean-Marie Le Pen are unbearable", said Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the radical left France Unbowed (LFI). "The struggle against the man is over. That against the hatred, racism, Islamophobia and antisemitism that he spread continues."

For several decades, Le Pen was France's most controversial political figure. His critics denounced him as a far-right bigot and the courts convicted him several times for his radical remarks.

In 2015, he was expelled from the National Rally after repeating an his infamous Holocaust denial.

The dismissal also came during a public feud with his daughter, who accused him of reiterating Holocaust denial to try to "rescue himself from obscurity". — BBC