Papon did not attend the hearing

The court in Melun, near Paris, ordered him to pay a fine of 2,500 euros ($3,000) and one euro ($1.23) in damages.

Papon, 93, was stripped of his award in 1999 after being convicted for complicity in crimes against humanity.

He was pictured wearing the medal in February in a photograph accompanying an article in Le Point magazine.

The Chancery of the Legion d'Honneur filed a complaint after seeing the photograph.

Papon's lawyer told the AFP news agency that he would appeal against the court's decision.

Death camps

The former government minister was awarded the Legion d'Honneur by General Charles de Gaulle in 1961.

Papon was the second-highest official in France's south-western Bordeaux region during the German wartime occupation.

In 1998, Papon was sentenced to 10 years in prison for helping to send more than 1,500 French Jews to German-run death camps during World War II.

He was released in 2002 because of his age.