*** The Globe and Mail on the Zundel Case: Important Supplement to today's Zgram***

[zgrams at zgrams.zundelsite.org]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20041021/ZUNDEL21/TPNational/?query=zundel


>Judge accused of 'misguided approach' in Zundel case
>
>Blais guilty of dispensing 'secret justice,' lawyers for Holocaust 
>denier assert
>
>
>By KIRK MAKIN
>JUSTICE REPORTER
>
>UPDATED AT 7:36 AM EDT	Thursday, Oct 21, 2004
>
>
>Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel's lawyers have accused a Federal Court 
>judge of running an error-plagued deportation hearing that "cheapens 
>and degrades" the justice system.
>
>In scathing arguments that took them into terrain where few lawyers 
>have dared to tread, defence lawyers Peter Lindsay and Chi-Kun Shi 
>accused Mr. Justice Pierre Blais of actively embracing the secrecy 
>of Canada's anti-terrorism law.
>
>The federal government has invoked the law's security-certificate 
>procedure in an attempt to deport Mr. Zundel as a threat to national 
>security.
>
>The lawyers said that what they called Judge Blais's "misguided and 
>unchecked" approach to national security has meant that Mr. Zundel 
>-- whom they described as a long-time pacifist with no criminal 
>record -- has been plunged into an 18-month ordeal of solitary 
>confinement and legal unfairness.
>
>They said Judge Blais seems unable "to even understand simple 
>submissions," and that a colossally unfair proceeding has devastated 
>Mr. Zundel's right to fairness and brought the justice system into 
>disrepute.
>
>Evidence in security-certificate proceedings is presented to the 
>judge in secrecy and not revealed to the defence.
>
>"Maybe no one cares, because this is only the notorious and reviled 
>Ernst Zundel," Mr. Lindsay and Ms. Shi said in a written submission. 
>"But it is not only Ernst Zundel. The apparent approach of the court 
>in this case cheapens and degrades all participants in this 
>important part of our system of justice -- and our system of justice 
>itself. Mr. Zundel is thus at the mercy of a secret proceeding and 
>of the judge conducting it.
>
>"Secret justice, dispensed in the way it has been in this case, is 
>no justice at all. It is Mr. Zundel's plea that this court look at 
>the mistakes it has made and change its approach with respect to 
>this matter, in order to appear more even-handed and fair."
>
>The defence attack was the culmination of steadily mounting 
>frustration in the courtroom. Mr. Lindsay and Judge Blais have had 
>repeated testy exchanges in recent months, usually over Mr. 
>Lindsay's right to call or cross-examine witnesses.
>
>The defence has tried twice to have Judge Blais -- a onetime 
>solicitor-general of Canada -- recuse himself. An appeal of his 
>refusals will be heard next month in the Federal Court of Appeal.
>
>Mr. Lindsay argued in court yesterday that the proceeding is a 
>perversion of what the security-certificate legislation was intended 
>to do, that is, to roust out genuine terrorists who could wreak 
>havoc on the country.
>
>Mr. Lindsay said the secrecy provisions have allowed government 
>lawyers to produce next to no evidence in the public segments of the 
>hearing. Meanwhile, behind closed doors, he said, they have 
>inevitably trotted out a melange of hearsay and baseless accusations 
>that cannot be challenged.
>
>"The public case is non-existent," Mr. Lindsay said. "It is devoid 
>of evidence. It is an ocean of innuendo and implied involvement of 
>Mr. Zundel in inspiring other people to commit acts of violence or 
>terrorism -- without ever providing any proof . . .
>
>"The public case goes far beyond guilt by association," he 
>continued. "It is guilt by contact. I don't say this easily, but it 
>makes McCarthyism look reasonable."
>
>Mr. Lindsay said that Judge Blais has heard persuasive evidence 
>that, far from inciting young hotheads of the far right to engage in 
>violence, Mr. Zundel has denounced violence and condemned those who 
>indulge in it.
>
>He said that Mr. Zundel has built his life around peacefully arguing 
>that the Holocaust has been exaggerated, resulting in the unfair 
>vilification of the German people.
>
>Otherwise, Mr. Lindsay said, his client lived a blameless life in 
>Canada for 42 years, never producing a single pamphlet or newsletter 
>that advocated violence.
>
>"According to the Crown, Mr. Zundel apparently woke up one morning 
>in 1990 and became a terrorist," Mr. Lindsay said. "Here is this 
>great purveyor of literature who distributes material all over the 
>world, yet they can't come up with one [item] showing him advocating 
>violence."
>
>Mr. Lindsay said there is great irony in Mr. Zundel having 
>repeatedly become the victim of violence. He said that his client's 
>home was vandalized and ultimately burned down. Mr. Zundel has also 
>been attacked outside the courthouse and received any number of 
>death threats and letter bombs, Mr. Lindsay said.
>
>The case has adjourned until early November.