Faurisson Convicted of Questioning Gas Chambers

On April 18, 1991 Professor Robert Faurisson was convicted of violating France's peculiar law against questioning “the existence of one or more crimes against humanity as defined by Article 6 of [the charter of] the International Military Tribunal, annexed to the London Agreement of August 8, 1945, and which were committed either by members of an organization declared to be criminal according to Article 9 of the same treaty, or by a person recognized as guilty of such crimes by a French or international court.”

Faurisson made the following statement,

“Due to an interview I published in the September 1990 issue of Le Choc du Mois [The Shock of the Month], the XVIIth Chamber of the Criminal Court of Paris, presided over by Claude Greiller, has just imposed a fine of 430,000 francs: 180,000 francs on the publisher, and 250,000 francs on me, of which 100,000 are suspended.”

Judge Claude Grellier made the following point in his decision. He said that the new statute “constitutes a new limit to freedom of expression and opinion, as defined by Article XI of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen of August 26, 1789.”

Professor Faurisson is appealing his conviction. Dr. Faurisson will shortly be tried on a different set of charges, arising from the same interview in Le Choc du Mois, stemming from his alleged violation of France's 1972 hate law.

Adapted from IHR Newsletter May 1991 No.80 PO Box 2739, Newport Beach, CA 92659.