French farmer jailed for GM attack

Bove says he'll appeal the court's decision directly to President Chirac

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PARIS, France -- Militant French farmer Jose Bove faces more than a year in jail after losing an appeal to the country's highest court.

Bove had appealed a six-month sentence for destroying a field of genetically modified (GM) rice near the southern city of Montpellier in 1999.

Tuesday's decision by the Cour de Cassation automatically means that Bove also must serve a separate eight-month sentence for a previous attack on GM crops in France.

The eight-month term had previously been suspended.

Bove said in a statement that he would appeal Tuesday's ruling directly to French President Jacques Chirac.

Earlier this year, Bove -- widely regarded as a hero of the anti-globalisation movement -- spent six weeks in jail for leading a group of protesters in dismantling a McDonald's restaurant under construction in southern Millau, near his sheep farm.

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