Posted on 02/26/2005 10:33:10 AM PST by Anti-Bubba182
Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel has conceded defeat in his two-year legal battle to avoid being deported to Germany.
Mr. Zundel, 65, will likely be flown out of Canada Tuesday, according to a letter he received yesterday from the Canada Border Services Agency.
Moving with lightning speed, the federal agency sent the letter hours after Federal Court of Canada Judge Pierre Blais had paved the way for Mr. Zundel to be deported as a danger to Canadian security.
"The purpose of this letter is to inform you that your removal to Germany is imminent. . . . Please note that you are entitled to a total of two suitcases with a maximum weight of 32 kilograms each," the letter said.
Mr. Zundel is wanted on an outstanding warrant in Germany, accused of denying the Holocaust. He was convicted in absentia and fined for a similar offence several years ago, and he is likely to get a substantial jail term if found guilty of a second offence.
Defence counsel Peter Lindsay said last night that Mr. Zundel concluded there was no point in taking last-ditch legal action to prevent his deportation.
"We have been through the Superior Court of Ontario, the Ontario Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court of Canada, Federal Court and the Federal Court of Appeal," Mr. Lindsay said. "The only ones we haven't tried are traffic court and small-claims court.
"I think he is very disillusioned in the Canadian justice system, and so am I. His feeling is that we have gone through the entire process and he is not going to bang his head against a wall any longer. If the question is whether he is willing to beg and plead and scrape about not wanting to be the victim of a secret trial, the answer is no. And I don't think he should have to."
Mr. Lindsay noted that the news media regularly carry stories about criminals who commit more crimes during long delays in the execution of their deportation orders.
"When it comes to Ernst Zundel, everything is always different," Mr. Lindsay said. "He understands that his views are not popular, but he has always discouraged violence."
Mr. Zundel arrived in Canada in 1958, but never acquired full citizenship. A graphic designer and artist, he eventually began devoting all his time to feeding his worldwide distribution network of anti-Semitic and Holocaust-denial material.
In 2000, he remarried and moved to rural Tennessee. However, U.S. authorities arrested him on a routine immigration-requirement violation and he was sent back to Canada on May 1, 2003.
Ever since, he has lived in solitary confinement at the Toronto West Detention Centre, determined to fight the federal government every step of the way to prevent his deportation on a rarely used security certificate.
"The powerful and the popular do not need to rely on the fairness of our legal system," Mr. Lindsay and co-counsel Chi-Kun Shi said in a written statement last night. "The marginalized and the reviled do. Our system has failed Mr. Zundel. We should care. But we fear most of us don't give a damn."
In his ruling on Thursday, Judge Blais labelled Mr. Zundel a racist hypocrite who has nurtured a pacifist image to conceal his support of right-wing extremism and his global propagation of anti-Semitic material.
Okay, I get that anyone who denies the Holocaust is a complete idiot, but does Germany find that being an idiot is unlawful? There must be more to this story.
Gee, I wonder what happens if you deny World War II took place?
Holocaust denial is illegal in Germany.
Thanks,I had no idea. Is it a public proclamation that is illegal, or is there a charge made if just anyone accuses one of denying the Holocaust?
I think they mainly go after the ones who really promote the idea and Zundel is very prominant in that area.
There are laws against denying or trivializing the holocaust in Germany.
Damn, what'a a flaming racist to do?
Good riddance...
The denial of the Holocaust isn't the worst of these guys' offenses. No, wishing a new Holocaust that would exterminate every Jew on the planet outranks even that.
There must be something on the books against the flat-earthers as well.
Hard to understand that wishing is a crime.
We have loads of Europeans wishing against the US. I guess that doesn't matter because we don't count.
As much as I don't like the guy and do not wish him to be living in Canada, I have only one problem, who is supposed to determine what Free speech is or not. The government?
I deny that the democrats are of the human Race.....
I wonder where they will deport me?
While I don't necessarily disagree with the first issue you addressed, I would appreciate you linking me to the European call of every U.S. citizen to be drivin into the Pacific.
Maybe we should make it a crime to deny that Bush won the elections. That would create stir.
Ready to obey WW2 dictum to aged Britons- you can always take one with you.
Now all is peacefull in my Canadian world. Even the surprise visit yesterday of Michael Moore to our little film festival, has not fazed me.
It t'was the gallantry of the citizenry and the militia in 1867 at the St Mary's River that stood off an awful disaster. It was them "murricans"- you know who you are. The ex soldiers of the Republic gathered to invade our city,the rumours said. The Fenians, they were called. Ah,our own noble defenders.
Turned out it was four drunks with a keg of whiskey,in our neighbouring sister city. An American in Canada was also firing off a cannon, out at the point and all. The American authorities were beseached to stop this invasion.
The American sheriff on a white horse reported, not to worry. The drunks had vanished, when he checked.
And apparently in Canada as well.
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.