BARCELONA, CATALONIA, SPAIN. On Tuesday, April 11,
2006, revisionist publisher Pedro Varela was arrested
at his Libraria Europa bookstore in the Catalan
capital. He was charged with "defending and
justifying genocide" by publishing books such as
Joaquin Bochaca's Mito de los 6 miliones
and, "putting in danger the security of foreign
states."
Revisionist
Publisher Pedro Varela arrested in Spain
The Spanish thought-police seized five hundred
books in the raid. Varela was under arrest from
11 a.m. Tuesday to 2 a.m. Wednesday, when he posted
bail. Varela is subject to 5 years in prison if
convicted.
One of the books that Mr. Varela is accused of publishing
is a standard, 1971 work on the subject of race and IQ
by Hans Eysenck, Race, Intelligence and Education,
published
in the U.S. as The IQ Argument. Eysenck, a German
who left the Third
Reich in the 1930s out of opposition to its policies,
authored 50
books and 900 academic articles, and was one of
the most highly regarded scientific
psychologists in the world.
The federal prosecutor for Barcelona who caused
his arrest is a Mr.
Mena, a former Maoist who is now a "democrat."
Varela has had previous contacts with the "justice
system" of his
country, as well as that of Austria, thus he is
a "recidivist," which
may affect the outcome of his current indictment.
He was arrested
first in December 1996 on similar charges of defending
genocide.
Twenty thousand books plus other items were seized
and later ordered
burned.
On November 16, 1998 a Spanish court sentenced Varela
to five years
imprisonment for "incitement to racial hatred" and
for "denying or
justifying genocide." The sentence was Spain's first
conviction for
"Holocaust denial." It is based on the country's
1995 anti-genocide
and anti-discrimination law.
On May 11, 1995 the Spanish parliament
revised the
country's criminal code by creating the crimes of
"justifying
genocide" and "promoting racial hatred."
The new code was signed
into law by Prime
Minister Felipe Gonzalez and King Juan Carlos.
Source: Ingrid Rimland, Zgram of 4/16/06;
The Barnes Review Newsletter, 4/16/06