Former Belgian senator,
Roeland Raes was put on trial for “denying” the
Holocaust. Raes, a leader in the Flemish
nationalist party Vlaams Blok was interviewed on
Dutch television. During the interview, he
commented that Anne Frank's diary was not
authentic and that the concentration camps were
poorly run work camps but were not extermination
camps.
Roeland Raes
The
Forum of Jewish Organizations in Flanders filed
a complaint following the broadcast of the
interview. The complaint charged that Raes had
violated Belgium’s anti-free speech “Holocaust
denial” laws. The complaints cost Raes his
positions in the Senate, as vice chairman of
Vlaams Blok and as a director at the University
of Ghent.