Vienna Appellate Court Suspends Remaining Sentence for

UNCLAS VIENNA 003590

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

STATE FOR EUR/OHI, EUR/AGS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KNAR PHUM PGOV AU
SUBJECT: Vienna Appellate Court Suspends Remaining Sentence for
British Historian David Irving


THIS MESSAGE IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - PLEASE PROTECT
ACCORDINGLY. NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION.

1.(U) In the Holocaust denial case of British historian David
Irving, the Vienna state appellate court suspended two thirds of
Irving's 3-year prison sentence on December 20. In February 2006, a
Vienna court had convicted Irving to a three-year prison sentence on
charges of violating Austrian law banning neo-Nazi activity. In
public speeches he had held in Austria in 1989, Irving had
repeatedly denied the existence of gas chambers in the Auschwitz
concentration camp, and denied the persecution of Jews under the
Nazi regime.

2.(U) The appellate court ruled that, because Irving had
demonstrated proper behavior in the 17 years since the public
speeches in 1989, he could serve two thirds of his sentence on
probation. Since Irving had been in custody since November 11,
2005, he was released from prison on December 20, but subsequently
put in detention pending deportation. The Interior Ministry has
already contacted the British authorities to implement the
deportation.

3.(U) The Austrian Jewish Community (IKG),the Social Democratic
Party (SPO) and the Green Party criticized the decision. The IKG
emphasized that the ruling "set the wrong signal" coming just after
the Holocaust denial conference in Tehran. A particular point of
criticism was the fact that Irving had in an interview he gave from
prison in March 2006 again stated that there was "no proof for
organized mass murder" during the Holocaust. The presiding judge in
the appellate trial, Ernest Maurer, characterized that statement a
"shock reaction" to the sentence. While the case against Irving
based on the March 2006 interview is still pending, the Vienna
public prosecutor saw insufficient grounds for putting Irving in
pre-trial detention pending investigation.

Comment
--------------
4.(SBU) Irving's three-year prison sentence in February 2006 had
triggered a debate in Austria whether the law banning neo-Nazi
activity, which stipulates sentences of up to ten years, is still
appropriate for Austrian society today. Critics argued that Austria
had matured to a democratic, open society respecting human rights,
and that the unique Austrian provisions on neo-Nazi activity. had
become obsolete in comparison with freedom of speech.

5.(SBU) Critics of the appellate court's ruling pointed to judge
Maurer's right wing political leanings. SPO Justice spokesman
Hannes Jarolim has called up the courts to exclude judges who have
no sensitivity toward Holocaust denial from cases involving charges
of neo-Nazi activity.
McCAW