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- Mainstream Media Poodles Reports
Article from: http://www.cbc.ca/cp/world/060215/w021522.html
Trial resumes for German extradited from
Canada on Holocaust-denial charges
10:42:02 EST Feb 15, 2006
MANNHEIM, Germany (AP) - The trial of Holocaust-denier Ernst Zundel, who
was deported from Canada to face charges in Germany, resumed Wednesday with
the judge rejecting defence motions seeking his removal for alleged bias.
Judge Ulrich Meinerzhagen rejected the three motions, filed last week,
citing another court's ruling that found there was no reason to doubt his
neutrality.
Meinerzhagen also fined three spectators at the trial for singing a verse of
the German national anthem, which has been banned since the end of the
Second World War because of nationalistic lyric content. A fourth spectator
was ordered jailed for four days for comparing the judge to a Nazi-era
prosecutor.
Prosecutors accuse Zundel, 66, of years of anti-Semitic activities,
including repeated denials of the Holocaust - a crime in his native Germany
- in documents and on the Internet. He faces up to five years in prison if
convicted.
The six-member defence team, whose motions and objections have slowed
proceedings, has rejected the charges as the illegal acts of an
"inquisition," but has not contested Zundel's alleged remarks.
Meinzerzhagen warned one defence lawyer she herself could face
prosecution for casting doubt on the Holocaust and abusing procedures.
Supporters of Zundel say he is a peaceful man being denied the right of
free speech.
Zundel emigrated to Canada in 1958 and lived in Toronto and Montreal
until 2001. Canadian officials rejected his attempts to obtain citizenship
in 1966 and 1994.
Zundel then moved to Tennessee. He was deported to Canada in 2003 for
alleged immigration violations, and then to Germany in 2005 as a danger to
national and international security.
© The Canadian Press, 2006
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