Law Student in England: "Zundel Trial In Germany -- A Farce!" 
 

November 15, 2005

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

I sent out a brief excerpt titled "On the Eve of the Holocaust Trial # 3" where Ernst Zundel comments briefly on his historic role in what I urge everybody from now on to call the "Holocaust Heresy Trial". It seems that some did not receive it - therefore, I am sending it again, followed by the comments of a young law student in England.

We are living in history-making times, folks! Big time!

Here is that piece again:

[START]

[written by Ernst Zundel to his wife, Ingrid Rimland]

What I wanted to tell you is that yesterday one of our attorneys came, in response to a pretty stern letter I had written about steps undertaken, I thought, prematurely. We had some spirited, heart-to-heart conversation and cleared up some misunderstandings.

I was mollified by the presentation and the steps that were explained to me, and what was planned - and already undertaken. Finally a defense team seems to be jelling that does justice to the historical and political situation as we find it here.

Actually, it amazed me what kind of information is still available here! Europe is still Europe! There is an understanding of history and culture as well as comparative religions that is so far superior to anything that we were exposed to in North America.

Ingrid, the researchers our attorneys obviously have access to are of a depth and a relentless logic that is overwhelming. Scary, even! I was shown a compilation of statements by philosophers, musicians, statesmen, kings, emperors and military men that left me speechless!

I am beginning to appreciate that, in order to lift this struggle out of the Canadian backwaters, I just had to come here, because only here is the repository of all this knowledge. It goes back millennia!

It's amazing to see fine European minds, products of European universities, tackle the problems I tackled like some outcast, having to rely [in Canada] entirely on my own informal, faulty training. You can see that the same issues of my own intuitive feel are given a proper upgrading and bringing-into-focus.

You will be proud - and the money is well worth it. I now understand the reason and context. It's destiny, Ingrid. We are tools.

[END]

Here is the young law student from England:

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Zundel Trial In Germany -- A Farce!

1 It seems relevant to start by mentioning two fundamental maxims of justice: Nemo iudex in causa sua ('no man should be judge in his own cause') & audi alteram partem ('hear the other side', ie that both sides should be given a fair hearing). It seems to me that the judge is biased. He is not willing to hear what the defence has to say. Instead he wants to 'shut them up'. And he clearly considers the Prosecution's cause as his own. He thus has a 'stake' in the trial, an interest in Ernst Zundel being found guilty.

He is therefore inherently biased.

By Art 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights & Fundamental Freedoms every person has a right to a fair trial. The Federal Republic of Germany is a signatory to the Convention and is therefore obliged to abide by it.

Art 6 states that:

ARTICLE 6 1 In the determination of [...] any criminal charge against him, everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial tribunal established by law. Judgement shall be pronounced publicly by the press and public may be excluded from all or part of the trial in the interest of morals, public order or national security in a democratic society, where the interests of juveniles or the protection of the private life of the parties so require, or the extent strictly necessary in the opinion of the court in special circumstances where publicity would prejudice the interests of justice.

2 Everyone charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law.

3 Everyone charged with a criminal offence has the following minimum rights: [...] ? (c) to defend himself in person or through legal assistance of his own choosing [...]; ? (d) to examine or have examined witnesses against him and to obtain the attendance and examination of witnesses on his behalf under the same conditions as witnesses against him;

I have underlined the relevant phrases. The right to a fair trial in section 1 of Art 6 is an 'absolute right', meaning that no matter what the circumstances everyone has a right to a fair trial (whereas s. 3 is a 'relative right', meaning that it may be limited if it be legitimate to do so in the circumstances). It has been stated above that the judge in the Zundel case is biased in the sense that the court was not an 'independent and impartial tribunal'. It is further submitted that the result of this would be that Zundel would not get a 'fair and public hearing' within Art 6(1). The court is therefore in breach of its obligations under Art 6(1). I suspect that Mr. Zundel's legal team would appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasburg if all else fails. Moreover, it is noted that by Art 6(3)(c) Herr Zundel has a right to choose his own legal team. This is not within the jurisdiction of the German court. This is also true in relation to leading counsel's assistant. The court is therefore ultra vires (beyond its powers) and its ruling on the matter is null and void. I suspect that also in this regard Ernst Zundel's legal team will seek to appeal to the higher courts, and, failing this, to the Court in Strasburg.

4 On a different note, there is a problem if Ernst Zundel's defence would be in breach of §130 of the Penal Code by defending their client to the best of their ability because advocates are obliged by their professional codes to defend their clients fearlessly and to the best of their ability. More importantly, if certain kinds of evidence cannot be admitted in court due to a general prohibition against displaying such material in public, how can the accused have a fair trial?

5 Judges are not, it is submitted, competent to rule on what is historical fact. If the judge in question wished to establish an historical fact (whatever that is) the proper way to go about it, in my opinion, would have been to call expert evidence. I say in my opinion, but I do think that any person with sound judgment would adopt the same opinion on this matter. This attitude of the judge also reveals his prejudice against the defence.

6 I can think of no good reason why Ernst Zundel should be kept in custody while an important question of law is being decided in the Constitutional Court. The case will surely take a very long time, perhaps more than a year. The court would need to have very good reasons to justify keeping an accused person (cf. Art 6(2), above: everyone is innocent until proven guilty) in custody for a substantial length of time. For example, the court would have to hear evidence that Mr. Zundel is very likely to flee Germany. Not just that he might, but that he is very likely to. However, it seems to me that the Regional Court decided the matter simply on a whim. This, again, is contrary to the Convention (see Art 5).

7 In conclusion, I would say that the trial of Ernst Zundel is an absolute outrage. Whether one sympathizes with his views or not, it is most unsatisfactory that a person is denied his right to a fair trial because of his beliefs. If this is truly the state of affairs in Germany, then hypocrisy and, indeed, tyranny must have gained the upper hand in that so-called democratic republic. I am absolutely outraged about this. Next time a German politician speaks of democracy and human rights, please ask him to ditch the rhetoric and, ahem, shove it up his a**.

Yours sincerely,

Patrick Boch,

Student of Law,

England.

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Table of Contents for additional articles

Revisionism 101: Basic Revisionism

Revisionism 201 for Holocaust Skeptics

"David against Goliath": Ernst Zündel, fighting the New World Order

"Lebensraum!": Ingrid Rimland, pioneering a True World Order