Ernst Zündel: sentenced to 5 Years in Germany

Revisionist activist, publisher and author Ernst Zündel was convicted of 14 counts of incitement for Holocaust “denial” and sentenced to five years imprisonment in Germany. The charges stem from his running a small publishing house, Samisdat Publishers and his alleged running of the popular and embattled revisionist Website, The Zündelsite.

Long-time Zundel lawyer, Doug Christie, of Victoria, B.C., denounced the Mannheim court's ruling. “It's another step down the slippery slope to the imposition of the worst restrictions on freedom of speech throughout the world,” said Christie. “They couldn't have prosecuted him in Canada. They tried that, it failed, time after time.”

Bernie Farber of the Canadian Jewish Congress applauded Germany's denial of Zündel's basic human rights, “I think that they've given a strong message . . . to the world, that I believe will bring a tremendous amount of comfort to Holocaust survivors.”

Zündel was born in Germany in 1939. He immigrated to Canada in 1958 and lived peacefully in Toronto and Montreal until 2001. He then moved to the United States where he was married to an American citizen, author Ingrid Rimland. The United States deported Zündel back to Canada in 2003 for alleged immigration violations.

The Canadian government quickly arrested Zündel upon his arrival and held him until March 2005 when a judge ruled that this peaceful man posed a threat to national and international security. Upon this ruling, Zündel found himself deported to Germany. Zündel has stood trial in Mannheim since last November.