MAIL ONLINE: British Holocaust-denying bishop Richard Williamson faces trial in Germany for an outspoken TV interview in which he denied that the wartime extermination of the Jews took place.
The ultra-conservative Catholic cleric was hit with a fine of nearly £12,000 today by a court for his comments made to a Swedish television interviewer - but he refused to pay it.
Because Holocaust denial is a crime in Germany - and because he gave the interview while on German soil - he was prosecuted in Regensburg, near to the birthplace of Pope Benedict XVI, where he gave the interview.
Under the German legal system, he was served with an ‘order of punishment’ informing him of the penalty.
Such orders are intended to cut down on bureaucracy and costs if both sides agree with the fine, which also would mean a criminal conviction.
But Williamson did not agree. He is to appeal, paving the way for a full hearing which could prove highly embarrassing for the church once more - even though Williamson can absent himself from proceedings to be represented just by his lawyer.
A trial judge will demand to know why he believes that six million Jews were not murdered by the Nazis and on what facts he bases his views on.
In the controversial interview, Williamson alleged that Nazi gas chambers had never existed and 'only 200,000 to 300,000 Jews' had been killed by the Nazis.
He went on to claim that historical evidence was 'hugely against six million having been deliberately gassed in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler... I believe there were no gas chambers.'
He added: 'I think that 200,000 to 300,000 Jews perished in the Nazi concentration camps but none of them in gas chambers.' >>> Allan Hall | Wednesday, November 10, 2009
