Oliver Stone: Charges Against Trump Are 'Ridiculous'

Maverick American director Oliver Stone told AFP that the legal proceedings against Donald Trump are "all political" and that the ex-president was a victim of "lawfare" -- when prosecutions are used to silence political figures.

"Almost 100 indictments against the guy... it's ridiculous," said Stone.

"This is all political. They want to put him behind bars, but they're not going to be able to," he added.

However, the 77-year-old director of "JFK", "Platoon" and "Snowden" said that he would not vote for Trump in this November's US presidential election.

"Everyone's corrupt. Russia runs on corruption, so does Turkey. So does the United States. Corruption is a way of life, but they make it into a political issue now," Stone insisted.

But he said he would not be voting for incumbent President Joe Biden either.

"Never for Biden, because Biden is a warmonger," said the Vietnam veteran.

Stone spoke to AFP Tuesday during a trip to Paris to promote his documentary about nuclear energy, "Nuclear Now".

He said he has been thinking a lot about "lawfare" as he has recently completed a film about Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Lula, as he is widely known, was imprisoned in 2018 on corruption and money-laundering charges after several years in power.

The charges were overthrown after an investigation found the judge was biased, and Lula was re-elected president last year.

"The concept of lawfare is all over the world, and it's been used for political reasons, weaponised," said Stone.

"And so that's what they did with Lula. They put him in jail and he got out and he won the election. It was a hell of a story... but people don't know it, except in Brazil."

Stone has often focused on Latin American leftist leaders, with no less than three documentaries about the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro, and one about his friend the Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, who died in 2013.

Lula, Castro and Chavez were all "humanists", he said.

"They're all great. They're all original, doing the best they can for their country. I think Chavez was motivated by love of country. So it was Castro."

There is not yet a release date for his Lula film, though he has launched previous films at the Cannes Film Festival, which takes place in May.

Stone has often been denounced as a conspiracy theorist for his views on US foreign policy and the assassination of John F. Kennedy, laid out in "JFK" and a follow-up documentary.

He has a simple response for his detractors. "I'm a freethinker."