Last night, I was
already in bed when I remembered that I had not notified my cameraman to
be in court today to document the hastily arranged resumption of the
court. Blind as a bat, because I had already removed my contacts and can
barely see anything without them, I typed and shipped an emergency SOS.
And am I ever glad I did!
I hope and pray he got good footage of this dramatic story
I translated this
hastily. If someone can do a better job, feel free!
Sylvia Stolz
Zündel-Anwältin wird aus Gerichtssaal getragen
05.04.2006
Zundel's lady
attorney is carried out of the courtroom
Mannheim (AP) Die frühere Verteidigerin des Holocaust-Leugners Ernst
Zündel ist am Mittwoch aus dem Gerichtssaal in Mannheim getragen worden.
Die Anwältin Sylvia Stolz war zuvor von dem Prozess ausgeschlossen worden,
erschien aber trotzdem im Saal und wollte auch nach Aufforderung des
Vorsitzenden Richters Ulrich Meinerzhagen nicht gehen. Sie wurde daraufhin
von zwei Wachpolizistinnen herausgetragen.
On Wednesday, the
one-time lady attorney of Holocaust Denier Ernst Zundel was carried out
of the courtroom [today]. Attorney Sylvia Stolz had been excluded from
the court , but she appeared in court and refused to obey the order of
Judge Meinerzhagen. Thereupon, two female guards carried her out.
«Das deutsche Volk erhebt sich», rief Stolz dem Publikum zu.
"The German people
are rising," Stolz called out to the public.
Der 66-jährige Zündel, der im Februar 2005 aus Kanada abgeschoben wurde
und seitdem in Untersuchungshaft sitzt, steht wegen Volksverhetzung vor
dem Landgericht. Er hatte den millionenfachen Mord an den Juden in
deutschen Gaskammern als Geschichtsfälschung bezeichnet. Seine Ansichten
hatte er unter anderem über eine Website verbreitet.
Sixty-six-year old
Zundel, who was deported from Canada in February 2005 and has been in
investigative detention ever since, is before the higher court for
"incitement of the people." He called the mass murder in millions of
Jews in German gas chambers a historical falsification. Among other
things, he spread his opinions via a website.
Stolz begründete ihr Bleiben mit den Worten: «Seit 60 Jahren verzichtet
das deutsche Volk auf seine Freiheit, sich selbst zu regieren. Diesem
schlechten Beispiel folge ich nicht.» Richter Meinerzhagen stehe in der
Tradition der Nürnberger Prozesse, «des Lynchens ohne Recht».
Stolz defended her
presence in the court with these words: "For 60 years, the German
people have resigned themselves to the fact that they did not have the
freedom to rule themselves. I am not following that bad example."
Judge Meinerzhagen functioned in the tradition of the Nuremberg Trials,
"a lynching outside the law."
Vor dem Eklat kündigte Stolz rechtliche Schritte gegen ihren Ausschluss
aus dem Verfahren an. «Es ist eine sofortige Beschwerde vorgesehen», sagte
sie der AP vor der Fortsetzung des Prozesses. «Das wird nun der
Bundesgerichtshof entscheiden.»
Before this incident
happened, Stolz announced legal steps against her exclusion in this
trial. "An immediate appeal is expected," she told AP before the trial
resumed. That will be decided by [Germany's] highest court."
Das Karlsruher Oberlandesgericht hatte am vergangenen Freitag den
Ausschluss der Anwältin verfügt, die in dem Prozess selbst mit strafbaren
nationalsozialistischen Äußerungen aufgefallen war und im November
vergeblich versucht hatte, den Ex-NPD-Anwalt Horst Mahler als Assistenten
der Verteidigung Zündels hinzuzuziehen.
The Higher Court,
Karlsruhe, ruled in favor of the lady attorney's exclusion, since she
had made herself noted for punishable opinions and had tried
unsuccessfully in November to have the ex-NPD attorney Horst Mahler be
her assistant in the defense of Ernst Zundel.
Der Karlsruher Gerichtsbeschluss ist allerdings noch nicht rechtskräftig.
Mahler war am Mittwoch ebenso anwesend wie zahlreiche Sympathisanten aus
der rechten Szene.
However, the
Karlsruhe Court's ruling is not yet binding. Mahler was in court on
Wednesday, as were numerous supporters from the Right.
«Ich gratuliere ihnen zu ihrer Tapferkeit», sagte einer von ihnen zu Stolz.
"I congratulate you
for your courage," one of them said to Stolz.
© 2006 The
Associated Press. Alle Rechte Vorbehalten - All Rights Reserved
Lawyer bodily removed from Zundel trial
Toronto Star | Apr. 5, 2006. 12:14 PM
MANNHEIM, Germany (AP) - A defence lawyer of far-right
activist Ernst Zundel, charged with denying the Holocaust, was physically
carried from the courtroom Wednesday after defying a ruling banning her from
the trial on grounds she tried to sabotage the proceedings.
Two female police officers had to carry Sylvia Stolz from
the Mannheim courtroom after she refused the judge's order to leave.
"Resistance! The German people are rising up," Stolz shouted
as she was taken from the room.
Some of the scores of supporters of Zundel, a 66-year-old
German deported from Canada, also quit the courtroom. Zundel, who emigrated
to Canada in 1958 and lived in Toronto and Montreal until 2001, has been
standing trial since November on charges of years of anti-Semitic activities
including denying the Holocaust - a crime in Germany - in documents and on
the Internet.
The presiding judge halted the trial on March 9 to ask for
Stolz's removal after she denounced the court as a "tool of foreign
domination" and described the Jews as an "enemy people" in earlier sessions.