Trial opens for accused Holocaust denier

[Al-khiyal]

VIENNA, Austria - A right-wing British historian goes on trial Monday on charges of denying the Holocaust occurred — a crime punishable by up to 10 years' imprisonment in this country once run by the Nazis.

The trial of David Irving opens amid fresh — and fierce — debate over freedom of expression in Europe, where the printing and reprinting of unflattering cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad has triggered violent protests worldwide....

Trial opens for accused Holocaust denier

[voltaire]

There's no point in this prosecution, or in the law behind it. Let the mad old tosser say what he wants. The trial will only bring extra publicity for him and his Nazi whackjob friends.



V

[Al-khiyal]

sallim 3ala ya voltaire,

I heard reports that he intends to plead guilty in order to win a mild punishment so perhaps he will not be making a soapbox of the dock.

No nasty airings of complete 'free speech' issues likely either, eh?

[voltaire]

Hiya Khiyal, quite the contrary, it'll get reported widely all over Europe (probably as widely as the cartoons, if not more so) - the fact that it's a court testimony merely makes it easier.

All of the papers here will be full of it I expect, along with opinion columns etc.



V

[Al-khiyal]

aha, I see. I was wondering if a guilty plea with no justifications would make for a rapid procedure and an equally rapid dropping of coverage - you know how short the attention span of the media can be sometimes.

We shall see if coverage is merely of his 'crime' or if the wider implications get explored as well.

[voltaire]

It'll almost certainly result in wide discussion of the issue (although probably not in the sense of debate on whether the Holocaust happened; after all the Holocaust is a historical fact, so there's not much actually to debate in that sense).

There'll certainly be a debate about whether denial should be illegal, if only because there are large parts of Europe where it isn't illegal - including my (and Irving's) home country of the UK.



V

[FORTUNATO]

VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- Right-wing British historian David Irving pleaded guilty Monday to criminal charges of denying the Holocaust and conceded in court he erred in contending there were no Nazi gas chambers during World War II.

"I made a mistake when I said there were no gas chambers at Auschwitz," Irving told the court after his trial opened in Vienna. But he insisted he never wrote a book about the Holocaust, which he called "just a fragment of my area of interest."

"In no way did I deny the killings of millions of people by the Nazis," Irving testified. Earlier, he told journalists he considered it "ridiculous" that he was standing trial for remarks made 17 years ago.

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/eu....ap/index.html