A French prosecutor told a today she is seeking €10,000 in damages from British designer John Galliano to compensate people he allegedly hurled anti-Semitic abuse at.
Prosecutor Anne de Fontette said she is seeking damages of up to €5,000 for each plaintiff in two cases against Galliano, whose towering career has been derailed by a series of apparently drunken outbursts to strangers in past months.
No prison sentence is being sought.
Galliano - who was fired by fashion house Dior in March after a video posted online showed him telling a woman he loved Hitler and that her parents might have been gassed in a Nazi death camp - told the court that he was so out of control on drink and drugs that he cannot recall making the insults.
"I have no recollection" of making anti-Semitic or any other insults, said a barely-audible Galliano today at the start of the trial.
"I have an addiction. I’m a recovering alcoholic, a recovering addict," he said, adding he was also addicted to sleeping tablets and valium.
Galliano, dressed in black and wearing a pencil moustache with his long hair hanging down his back, emerged from months out of sight for the proceedings.
He has apologised for his comments and spent recent weeks in rehab in the United States for an addiction to alcohol, tranquilisers and sleeping pills.
A verdict is expected in September.
Agencies