Posted on 02/22/2006 7:43:04 PM PST by Anti-Bubba182
VIENNA, Austria -- Right-wing British historian David Irving was sentenced to three years in prison Monday after admitting to an Austrian court that he denied the Holocaust _ a crime in the country where Hitler was born.
Irving, who pleaded guilty and then insisted during his one-day trial that he now acknowledged the Nazis' World War II slaughter of 6 million Jews, had faced up to 10 years behind bars. Before the verdict, Irving conceded he had erred in contending there were no gas chambers at the Auschwitz concentration camp.
[snip}
But despite his apparent epiphany, Irving, 67, maintained he had never questioned the Holocaust.
"I've never been a Holocaust denier and I get very angry when I'm called a Holocaust denier," he said.
Irving's lawyer said he would appeal the sentence.
"I consider the verdict a little too stringent. I would say it's a bit of a message trial," attorney Elmar Kresbach said.
State prosecutor Michael Klackl declined to comment on the verdict. In his closing arguments, however, he criticized Irving for "putting on a show" and for not admitting that the Nazis killed Jews in an organized and systematic manner.[snip]
Irving, handcuffed and wearing a navy blue suit, arrived at the court carrying one of his most controversial books _ "Hitler's War," which challenges the extent of the Holocaust........."
[snip]
"He is everything but a historian ... He is a dangerous falsifier of history," Klackl said, calling Irving's statements an "abuse of freedom of speech."
Klackl said the Austrian law does not "hinder historical works."
"You have to look at each case individually," he said. "The point is, what is someone trying to do? It's the intent."...."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Why don't we see if "W" can retarget some of those otherwise unused nukes on Vienna ~ I'd hate to see the end of the world arrive and these guys escape feeling that it was their work in suppressing speech that saved them.
Yet another ping.
They sure are, not that facts ever made much difference to Irving where there were books to sell and self promotion to be done!
And all the so called "free speech" advocates taking the cause of a professional liar as if outright fraud rises to protected speech in another country.
Do you really think Austria has people who know nothing of the Holocaust and who might be misled by Irving?
So, you have a choice, fascism or free speech. I prefer free speech. You prefer the alternative.
So I'm guessing the President of Iran won't be visiting Austria any time soon..?
No he is going to jail for being stupid enough to go back to Austria.
It is Germany where he has a potential problem, but as a politcal big shot they would not do anything to him.
Interesting, this type of thing would happen to people for saying what they think, right or wrong....
...IN NAZI GERMANY!!!!
Broadcast TV is all local in Italy too, just like international law in Spain, but at least you get a lot of gameshows and dancing girls with it.
How many duplicate threads are we going to have on this article?
I searched again, no match.
I was talking about the title, not keyword.
There's nothing unique about this article that couldn't have been put in a existing thread. It's better for discussion to have one thread with five hundred posts than a hundred with five posts each.
Life is hard.
So is posting a dead thread.
Its interesting that we don't here much about the 44 million non-Jews who died in WW2.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.