AAARGH
German authorities fear the trial of an Australian Holocaust revisionist has given the green light for far Right groups to use the Internet to spread their race hate messages.
Former schoolteacher Frederick Toben was charged with illegally distributing anti-Semitic and race hate material in Germany by mail and via the Web site of the Adelaide Institute, of which he is the director.
But the local court in the southern city of Mannheim declined to punish Toben for the information on the Web site, which challenges the historic truth of the Holocaust.
It said it only had to deal with written material distributed in Germany in hard form. The court convicted Toben on charges of inciting racial hatred, of defaming the memory of the dead and of public denial of the Holocaust for material contained in an open letter he sent to political leaders and others in Germany.
As a result, he received a prison sentence of only 10 months, compared with the two years and four months asked for by prosecutor Mr Hans Klein.
Mr Klein said the decision would allow the far Right in Germany to use its connections with sympathisers in countries such as Australia to pursue their goals of undermining laws in Germany aimed at containing anti-Semitism and preserving the memory of the Holocaust to ensure that such a thing could never again happen.
''It is important to appeal against this court decision," he said.
Judge Klaus Kern said there was no doubt that Toben was guilty of denying the Holocaust. There was also no sign that Toben would relent from this behaviour and a jail sentence was required.
But he said the court could only take into account the material which he had physically distributed in Germany. Material published on the Internet was not physically distributed in Germany by Toben. Its distribution depended on an Internet user connecting to Toben's Adelaide site and pulling material from it.
Because Toben has been in custody since April, the court ruled that he could be released on the payment of a $5,000 fine.
Supporters of Toben in the court, including prominent figures of the German far Right, said they would try to raise the funds to secure his release within days. [AAARGH's addendum: it was done within the day and F. Toben was out of jail on Nov. 13th]
Court sources said Toben planned to return to Australia immediately.
German citizens convicted of the same crimes have been sentenced to jail terms of two to five years.
Despite what was seen as a relatively light sentence, Toben's lawyer, Mr Ludwig Bock, said he also planned to appeal against the decision.
Mr Bock had refused to present a defence on Toben's behalf because he said he risked being prosecuted on the same charges as Toben. He is waiting the outcome of an appeal against a conviction earlier this year over his defence of another Holocaust revisionist.
Mr Bock said the conviction of Toben without the defence case being presented because of the threat of further legal action was a matter of serious concern.
Meanwhile, Australian Jewish groups welcomed Toben's conviction, saying it was encouraging to all people who support democracy and tolerance.
The national vice-president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Mr Jeremy Jones, said:
===========================
Sydney Morning Herald, 12 nov 1999
<http://www.smh.com.au/index.html>
then "Web of hate".
Rappelons que Jeremu Jones, le bon apôtre, est celui qui a essayé de faire passer Töben devant un pseudo-tribunal australien des "droits de l'homme". Ils parlent de tolérance mais il n'y a pas de maison pour ça...
Ce texte a été
affiché sur Internet à des fins purement éducatives,
pour encourager la recherche, sur une base non-commerciale et
pour une utilisation mesurée par le Secrétariat
international de l'Association des Anciens Amateurs de Récits
de Guerre et d'Holocauste (AAARGH). L'adresse électronique
du Secrétariat est <[email protected]>.
L'adresse postale est: PO Box 81475, Chicago, IL 60681-0475, USA.
Afficher un texte sur le Web équivaut à mettre un document sur le rayonnage d'une bibliothèque publique. Cela nous coûte un peu d'argent et de travail. Nous pensons que c'est le lecteur volontaire qui en profite et nous le supposons capable de penser par lui-même. Un lecteur qui va chercher un document sur le Web le fait toujours à ses risques et périls. Quant à l'auteur, il n'y a pas lieu de supposer qu'il partage la responsabilité des autres textes consultables sur ce site. En raison des lois qui instituent une censure spécifique dans certains pays (Allemagne, France, Israël, Suisse, Canada, et d'autres), nous ne demandons pas l'agrément des auteurs qui y vivent car ils ne sont pas libres de consentir.
Nous nous plaçons sous
la protection de l'article 19 de la Déclaration des Droits
de l'homme, qui stipule:
ARTICLE 19
<Tout individu a droit à la liberté d'opinion
et d'expression, ce qui implique le droit de ne pas être
inquiété pour ses opinions et celui de chercher,
de recevoir et de répandre, sans considération de
frontière, les informations et les idées par quelque
moyen d'expression que ce soit>
Déclaration internationale des droits de l'homme,
adoptée par l'Assemblée générale de
l'ONU à Paris, le 10 décembre 1948.