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ThoughtCrime: 02/10/97

Germans Imprison Revisionist Journalist

A German court has sentenced Hans-Christian Wendt, a 25 year-old journalist to one year in jail for spreading "neo-Nazi propaganda." The court found Wendt, a member of the ``Die Nationalen'' group, guilty of inciting racial hatred. In its judgment, the court used typical rhetoric branding Wendt ``one of the leading figures in the extremist scene'' in the Berlin area. To gather evidence against Wendt, the German Thought Police raided his home in August of 1996. The raid of Wendt's personal belongings is said to have resulted in the discovery of Holocaust Revisionist material. Many such books and pamphlets are banned in Germany today. German court findings similar to those of the Wendt case have been used in recent years to eliminate any political dissent in Germany. Today it is estimated that there are over 2,000 political prisoners in Germany.
 
    Adapted from Reuters Limited 02/10/97.