Vincent Reynouard, 53, evaded authorities after he was convicted under anti-Nazi laws which criminalise denial of the Holocaust.

His arrest follows a two-year search led by France’s Central Office for the Fight against Crimes against Humanity and Hate Crimes (OCLCH), which was incepted after the memorial of Oradoursur-glane, where Nazi troops killed the inhabitants of an entire village in June 1944, was vandalised in August 2020.

Graffiti on the monument read “Reynouard is right”.

Mr Reynouard has gained multiple convictions in France for his comments. Denying the Holocaust has been a crime in France since 1990 under the Gayssot Act, which was enacted to address people denying Nazi crimes and the existence of the gas chambers.

Under the law it is a crime to “contest” certain “crimes against humanity” found in the Nuremberg Charter.