The Globe and Mail on the Zundel Case: Important Supplement to today's Zgram

Oct 21, 2004

ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny

Judge accused of 'misguided approach' in Zundel case Blais guilty of dispensing 'secret Justice,' lawyers for Holocaust denier assert

By KIRK MAKIN JUSTICE REPORTER

GLOBE & MAIL Thursday, Oct 21, 2004

Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel's lawyers have accused a Federal Court judge of running an error-plagued deportation hearing that "cheapens and degrades" the justice system.

In scathing arguments that took them into terrain where few lawyers have dared to tread, defence lawyers Peter Lindsay and Chi-Kun Shi accused Mr. Justice Pierre Blais of actively embracing the secrecy of Canada's anti-terrorism law.

The federal government has invoked the law's security-certificate procedure in an attempt to deport Mr. Zundel as a threat to national security.

The lawyers said that what they called Judge Blais's "misguided and unchecked" approach to national security has meant that Mr. Zundel -- whom they described as a long-time pacifist with no criminal record -- has been plunged into an 18-month ordeal of solitary confinement and legal unfairness.

They said Judge Blais seems unable "to even understand simple submissions," and that a colossally unfair proceeding has devastated Mr. Zundel's right to fairness and brought the justice system into disrepute.

Evidence in security-certificate proceedings is presented to the judge in secrecy and not revealed to the defence.

"Maybe no one cares, because this is only the notorious and reviled Ernst Zundel," Mr. Lindsay and Ms. Shi said in a written submission. "But it is not only Ernst Zundel. The apparent approach of the court in this case cheapens and degrades all participants in this important part of our system of justice -- and our system of justice itself. Mr. Zundel is thus at the mercy of a secret proceeding and of the judge conducting it.

"Secret justice, dispensed in the way it has been in this case, is no justice at all. It is Mr. Zundel's plea that this court look at the mistakes it has made and change its approach with respect to this matter, in order to appear more even-handed and fair."

The defence attack was the culmination of steadily mounting frustration in the courtroom. Mr. Lindsay and Judge Blais have had repeated testy exchanges in recent months, usually over Mr. Lindsay's right to call or cross-examine witnesses.

The defence has tried twice to have Judge Blais -- a onetime solicitor-general of Canada -- recuse himself. An appeal of his refusals will be heard next month in the Federal Court of Appeal.

Mr. Lindsay argued in court yesterday that the proceeding is a perversion of what the security-certificate legislation was intended to do, that is, to roust out genuine terrorists who could wreak havoc on the country.

Mr. Lindsay said the secrecy provisions have allowed government lawyers to produce next to no evidence in the public segments of the hearing. Meanwhile, behind closed doors, he said, they have inevitably trotted out a melange of hearsay and baseless accusations that cannot be challenged.

"The public case is non-existent," Mr. Lindsay said. "It is devoid of evidence. It is an ocean of innuendo and implied involvement of Mr. Zundel in inspiring other people to commit acts of violence or terrorism -- without ever providing any proof . . .

"The public case goes far beyond guilt by association," he continued. "It is guilt by contact. I don't say this easily, but it makes McCarthyism look reasonable."

Mr. Lindsay said that Judge Blais has heard persuasive evidence that, far from inciting young hotheads of the far right to engage in violence, Mr. Zundel has denounced violence and condemned those who indulge in it.

He said that Mr. Zundel has built his life around peacefully arguing that the Holocaust has been exaggerated, resulting in the unfair vilification of the German people.

Otherwise, Mr. Lindsay said, his client lived a blameless life in Canada for 42 years, never producing a single pamphlet or newsletter that advocated violence.

"According to the Crown, Mr. Zundel apparently woke up one morning in 1990 and became a terrorist," Mr. Lindsay said. "Here is this great purveyor of literature who distributes material all over the world, yet they can't come up with one [item] showing him advocating violence."

Mr. Lindsay said there is great irony in Mr. Zundel having repeatedly become the victim of violence. He said that his client's home was vandalized and ultimately burned down. Mr. Zundel has also been attacked outside the courthouse and received any number of death threats and letter bombs, Mr. Lindsay said.

The case has adjourned until early November.

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Table of Contents for additional articles

Revisionism 101: Basic Revisionism

Revisionism 201 for Holocaust Skeptics

"David against Goliath": Ernst Zündel, fighting the New World Order

"Lebensraum!": Ingrid Rimland, pioneering a True World Order