Lawyer Attacked Outside Court

A masked gang of thugs attacked a lawyer with baseball bats on Wednesday. The lawyer was beaten outside the Hamburg courthouse where he was defending a German man who called Auschwitz a “myth.''

Attorney Jürgen Rieger was hospitalized with a head injury, bruising and grazes but was released after treatment. One man, suspected to be a member of the gang of between five and seven, was detained by police.

Rieger was representing one of two men on the first day of their trial on charges of inciting public disorder for saying American director Steven Spielberg's film, Schindler's List had won Oscars by “keeping the Auschwitz myth alive.”

Prosecutors appealed after a lower court decided in February that the word “myth” did not amount to a denial that the holocaust had taken place. Denying the holocaust is a crime in Germany.

The two unidentified men recorded the controversial statement for a telephone information service in March last year. It is reported that the message said,

“A film by Spielberg basically wins an Oscar. He stands up against Nazi Germany, others join in, he keeps the Auschwitz myth alive and he gets seven Oscars for the film of the year.”

The original court ruling caused an uproar among Jewish community leaders and politicians in Germany.