French actress Brigitte Bardot was spared jail time on Tuesday after a Paris jury convicted her of inciting hatred against Muslims in a letter she published claiming they were destroying France, but was instead ordered to pay a $23,000 fine, and $1,555 in damages to MRAP.

Bardot's lawyer, Francois-Xavier Kelidjian, said he would talk to her about the possibility of an appeal, but believes she is unlikely to do so because she is tired of trials.

"She gets the impression that they are trying to silence her but she will not be silenced in her defense of the cause of animals," he said.

Marking her fifth race-related conviction in the past 11 years, the fine regarded a letter she wrote in December 2006 to the then Interior Minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, which was published on her website, in which she deplored the slaughter of animals for the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha.

A leading French anti-racism group known as MRAP filed a lawsuit last year over her letter.

"I’ve had enough of being led by the nose by this whole population which is destroying us, and destroying our country by imposing their ways," said the 73-year-old, who was also fined £4000 for inciting racial hatred in her book "A Cry in the Silence four years ago.

Prosecutors had recommended a two-month jail sentence in addition to a fine, but the court did not follow the advice.

An animal rights activist, Bardot didn't attend today's court hearing but told prosecutors she was "sickened by how anti-racist groups" are harassing her, and said "I won't shut up until stunning is carried out" on animals before their ritual slaughter.