Supporters applaud neo-Nazi as trial begins

9 February 2006

DPA

http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=26&story_id=27518&\
name=Supporters+applaud+neo%2DNazi+as+trial+begins

MANNHEIM, GERMANY - The German-born author of the book "The Hitler We Loved and
Why" went on trial in Germany Thursday for denying the Holocaust and was
applauded by fellow neo-Nazis in court.

Lawyers supporting Ernst Zuendel, 66, attacked the judge as biased and poured
scorn on the government-funded legal team appointed to present a defence case.
The court had earlier ruled that Zuendel's far-right lawyer friends were unfit
to receive state fees.

Zuendel, who has spent most of his life in the United States and Canada, ran a
neo-Nazi website and sold neo-Nazi books by mail.

He is charged with incitement to ethnic hatred, criminal insult and disparaging
the dead, and
could face up to five years in jail.

A first trial of Zuendel last November had to be abandoned after the court in
the southwestern town of Mannheim ruled that a far-right lawyer was herself
breaching the law by denying the Holocaust.

Judges say Zuendel is not allowed to base a defence on his claim that the
Holocaust never happened. As a result, there are three legal teams in court: The
prosecution, the state sanctioned defence and Zuendel's associates.

Police kept the courthouse under tight guard. When Zuendel, who has been in
German custody since being expelled from Canada in March 2005, was led in, many
persons in the public gallery applauded him.

The court ruled that an objection against the judge for alleged bias would be
dealt with later. Other applications by Zuendel delayed the arraignment for
several hours. The court rejected a demand by Zuendel's friends that his state
defence team sit elsewhere in court.

Zuendel's book in praise of Hitler is popular among neo-Nazis, but has outraged
most Germans. The German government has been trying for years to stop his
activities and his attacks on Jews.

He emigrated from Germany to Canada in 1958 and later moved to the United
States. He was deported back to Canada in 2003 for alleged immigration
violations.

Because of U.S. constitutional free-speech rules, he was not charged in the
United States. But as a German national, he can be prosecuted in his homeland
for crimes committed on foreign soil.