Revisionist Publisher Varela arrested in Spain

Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. On Tuesday, April 11, 2006, revisionist publisher Pedro Varela was arrested at his Libreria 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.

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