LONDON, Feb. 24 (Xinhuanet) -- London Mayor Ken Livingstone was suspended from office on Friday for four weeks for comparing a Jewish journalist to a concentration camp guard.

    The Adjudication Panel for England ruled that Ken Livingstone had brought his office into disrepute when he acted in an "unnecessarily insensitive" manner.

    The ban is due to begin on March 1. During the suspension, Livingstone will still be fully paid and the mayor's deputy Nicky Gavron will stand in for Livingstone, according to BBC on Friday.

    "This decision strikes at the heart of democracy," the mayor said after hearing the ruling, adding that "elected politicians should only be able to be removed by the voters or for breaking the law."

    Livingstone said he would announce what action he would be taking next week.

    The hearing followed a complaint from the Jewish Board of Deputies, which had not called for the mayor to be suspended over the comment he made to the Evening Standard's Oliver Finegold outside a public-funded party.

    The chairman of the panel, David Laverick, said it had decided on the ban because Livingstone had failed to realize the seriousness of his outburst.

    Livingstone was recorded asking reporter Oliver Finegold if he is a "German war criminal".

    Finegold replied: "No, I'm Jewish, I wasn't a German war criminal. I'm quite offended by that."

    The mayor then said: "Ah right, well you might be, but actuallyyou are just like a concentration camp guard, you are just doing it because you are paid to, aren't you?"

    In a statement, the Board of Deputies of British Jews said it regretted the guilty result and that Livingstone had been "the architect of his own misfortune" by failing to recognize the upsetcaused. Enditem