For Galliano, whose worth is estimated in the millions of
dollars, the penalty — suspended for several years — avoids any financial
burden and is unlikely to constrain his liberty.
The fine, in line with what a prosecutor had recommended in
June, falls short of the maximum sentence in such cases of a 22,000 euro fine
and 6-month prison sentence.
"Despite the triple addiction from which he was
suffering, he was lucid enough to be conscious of his acts," said the
tribunal president, Anne-Marie Sauteraud, reading out the court's decision.
The court explained its relatively lenient decision by
referring to Galliano's lack of criminal convictions, his previous regard for
respect and tolerance and the treatment for drug and alcohol addiction he has
sought since his arrest.
She said Galliano had told the court he would have wanted to
be present for the verdict, but did not attend to avoid another confrontation
with the press.
In addition to the fines, Galliano was sentenced to pay more
than 5,000 euros in legal fees, plus 1 euro in symbolic damages, to each of the
plaintiffs and civil parties in the case.
Yet the British designer has already paid for his behavior
late last year at a chic Parisian bar - where he was filmed hurling
anti-Semitic insults at a couple - by losing his top job at Dior and his stake
in a franchise named after him.
The damage to his reputation, once among the untouchable in
the world of high fashion, has also been dire, with peers ranging from Chanel
designer Karl Lagerfeld and US actress Natalie Portman blasting his behavior in
public.
Galliano, reported to have been through two rehabilitation
programs, in Arizona and Switzerland, has made few public appearances since he
appeared before a packed Parisian courthouse last June, speaking in a tiny
voice about his triple addiction to alcohol, sleeping pills and tranquilizers.
The image of a man who, in his own words, had become a
"ghost of himself" was enough to appease at least one plaintiff in
the case, Geraldine Bloch, her lawyer told Reuters.
"She saw a man who was destroyed physically, a sick
man," said lawyer Yves Beddouk. "For her and for me, this is already
in the past, he has already been stripped of his status as an icon and that is
the real punishment." "The court's verdict will serve as an
example," he added.
Galliano, 50, made his first foray back into design last
summer when he drew the wedding dress of British supermodel Kate Moss, a close
friend.
"She dared me to be John Galliano again. I couldn't
pick up a pencil. It's been my creative rehab," the US edition of Vogue
magazine quoted him as saying in its September issue.
