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Diplomats: EU still divided over how to handle Holocaust denial
By Reuters

European Union countries remained divided over how to deal with claims the Holocaust never happened, diplomats said on Thursday, after ministers discussed the issue for the first time in more than a year.

The bloc has struggled for almost six years over proposals for an EU-wide, anti-racism law which would include harmonized rules on helping punish Holocaust denial.

EU president Germany has said it has a historic duty to harmonize EU rules for dealing with claims the massacre of Jews by Nazi Germany never took place, as well as racism in general.
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Germany wants EU states to be free to decide not to make denial of the Holocaust a crime, as long it does not incite violence or hatred.

"We would really have problems with arresting one of our citizens and handing him over to another country for denying the Holocaust," another diplomat said.

But all countries would have to help states that punish Holocaust denial carry out their investigations, the main point of disagreement, diplomats said.

"All states feel that ... Europe must give a clear message that we will not tolerate, and want to combat racism and xenophobia," German Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries told a news conference.

She acknowledged that there were differences, but declined to say how she planned to reach a deal.

"If you want an agreement on this, there is really a lot of work to do," one of the diplomats said.

Long-standing differences between countries that champion freedom of expression and those that sanction Holocaust denial emerged during Thursday's meeting of justice and interior ministers.

Countries like France have laws to punish those who deny 6 million Jews were killed by the Nazis during World War Two, while others such as Denmark favor freedom of speech.

New EU states from the former communist bloc also want the text of any agreement to ban the denial of Stalinist crimes.

German court jails Holocaust denier Zuendel for five years
A German court sentenced a prominent Holocaust denier extradited from Canada to five years in prison on Thursday for inciting racial hatred and denying the Nazis murdered six million Jews.

Ernst Zuendel, publisher of works such as "Did six million really die?", was handed the maximum sentence under German law for Holocaust denial.

Zuendel, 67, has been in custody in Germany since March 2005 after being deported from Canada. The court would not release him on bail because of the danger he would flee.

In his closing statement Zuendel said the court should set up an international commission of experts to examine the Holocaust. If the commission confirmed the gassing of Jews, he told the court he would convene a press conference to apologize to Jews and other victims.

The trial was suspended in late 2005 after the judge dismissed a publicly appointed defense lawyer when she produced written submissions that appeared to deny the Holocaust. It resumed just over a year ago.

Zuendel is a German citizen who has spent much of his life in Canada and whose name is sometimes spelled Zundel. He ran a Web site and distributed a publication called "Germania Rundbrief" denying the Holocaust took place.

There were posters of Zuendel and other prominent Holocaust deniers at last year's Holocaust conference in Tehran organized by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
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  1.   Excellent 16:53  |  Mark B. 15/02/07
  2.   what a joke. this is European style freedom. 17:14  |  sami 15/02/07
  3.   Pathetic...when will the backlash come? 17:18  |  Sam 15/02/07
  4.   Now he`ll have 5 years to learn about WWII 17:21  |  Piotr 15/02/07
  5.   Legal action against Haaretz 17:35  |  GZLives 15/02/07
  6.   Legal action against Haaretz 17:40  |  GZLives 15/02/07
  7.   is there an `official` version of the holocaust? 17:41  |  need to know 15/02/07
  8.   GZLives has a point 17:50  |  Rufus 15/02/07
  9.   #3 SAM 17:50  |  Itsik 15/02/07
  10.   What`s next? 17:53  |  Baz Mann 15/02/07
  11.   GZLives. Cool it. 17:54  |  Baz Mann 15/02/07
  12.   #2 Sami from Yaffo gimel 17:56  |  Itsik 15/02/07
  13.   To the un educated `need to know` 17:56  |  Rufus 15/02/07
  14.   Itsik - Point well taken 18:06  |  Sam 15/02/07
  15.   Righteous Reprimand 18:09  |  Lavi 15/02/07
  16.   with regards to that comment 18:18  |  GR 15/02/07
  17.   GZLives 18:28  |  amnon 15/02/07
  18.   #14 Sam 18:29  |  Itsik 15/02/07
  19.   ZUENDEL FORGOT THAT A COMMISSION 18:34  |  Robert 15/02/07
  20.   Itsik 18:39  |  Sam 15/02/07
  21.   Sam #3: typical anti-Jewish drivel 18:40  |  Paul Freedman 15/02/07
  22.   Great news! I just hope that...... 18:44  |  Henry in Canada 15/02/07
  23.   to needtoknow: is there official version of round earth 18:48  |  Paul Freedman 15/02/07
  24.   Some countries... 18:49  |  Edith 15/02/07
  25.   #14: Sam, they killed two million children 18:55  |  Paul Freedman 15/02/07
  26.   # 2 Sami 18:59  |  Edith 15/02/07
  27.   Paul Freedman - 6 Million 19:01  |  Caro the jew 15/02/07
  28.   Good For Germany! 19:04  |  Yosemite 15/02/07
  29.   Edith - Reverse that logic 19:04  |  Sam 15/02/07
  30.   Who cares about the gassing? 19:06  |  Cat 15/02/07
  31.   Those who embrace Holocaust deniers the same who embraced Nazis 19:08  |  bimmer 15/02/07
  32.   #14: typical example of protest against oligarchy 19:08  |  Paul Freedman 15/02/07
  33.   Caro 19:09  |  GR 15/02/07
  34.   Cat 19:14  |  GR 15/02/07
  35.   When it comes to Jews..no freedom of speech 19:21  |  KA 15/02/07
  36.   #27: confirmed through multiple sources 19:21  |  Paul Freedman 15/02/07
  37.   #35 19:34  |  Shual 15/02/07
  38.   Re #5 `Legal action against Haaretz.` 19:34  |  Colin Wright 15/02/07
  39.   Caro the Jew 19:36  |  Cat 15/02/07
  40.   GZ Lives a nazi posts here 19:48  |  bev 15/02/07
  41.   Re `what a joke, this European style freedom...` 19:49  |  Colin Wright 15/02/07
  42.   a bit much 19:55  |  Harry 15/02/07
  43.   Hungarian Jews gassed 19:57  |  Judith 15/02/07
  44.   Re `Pathetic...` 20:02  |  Colin Wright 15/02/07
  45.   Not in Germany Mr. ! 20:08  |  Anderson 15/02/07
  46.   Imprisoned for a personal belief/opinion??? 20:10  |  T A Sheppard 15/02/07
  47.   Re #30 `Who cares about the gassing?` 20:16  |  Colin Wright 15/02/07
  48.   Germany`s Definitely Back On My List Of Favorite Places To Visit! 20:19  |  Yosemite 15/02/07
  49.   To # 46 TS 20:25  |  A 15/02/07
  50.   Ladies and Gentlemen 20:25  |  N/A 15/02/07
  51.   re. 47 Colin Wright 20:33  |  Cat 15/02/07
  52.   1930 Nazis less historically anti-Semitic than palestinians 20:54  |  bimmer 15/02/07
  53.   # 46 TA Shepperd 21:01  |  The Equalizer 15/02/07
  54.   # 10 Baz Mann 21:08  |  ChanahS 15/02/07
  55.   re: Imprisoned for a personal belief/opinion??? 21:15  |  CB 15/02/07
  56.   T A Sheppard - faulty logic # 46 21:27  |  ChanahS 15/02/07
  57.   Sami - the joke is on you 21:31  |  ChanahS 15/02/07
  58.   Against Holocaust denial laws 21:44  |  Jonathan S 15/02/07
  59.   No Speech Freedom = Facism 21:50  |  Nick 15/02/07
  60.   No Holocaust nor Atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki 21:56  |  albert amato 15/02/07
  61.   sad and funny 22:01  |  arab 15/02/07
  62.   Freedom of speech takes another 22:11  |  Rac-ontour 15/02/07
  63.   # 46 T A Sheppard 22:20  |  Lynn 15/02/07
  64.   Why Holocaust denial? 22:25  |  KUTW 15/02/07
  65.   There should be no prohibition for Holocaust denial 22:28  |  Shlomo from Tel-Aviv 15/02/07
  66.   Why this reluctance? 22:29  |  KUTW 15/02/07
  67.   schools 22:32  |  ron 15/02/07
  68.   #29 Sam; About logic and challanging ideas 22:44  |  Max Zinger,P.Chimist 15/02/07
  69.   Holocaust denial in Wonderland 22:46  |  David ben Avraham 15/02/07
  70.   Solution: Persona Non-Grata 22:46  |  bimmer 15/02/07
  71.   65. Shlomo from Tel-Aviv: Holocaust denial 22:46  |  KUTW 15/02/07
  72.   FREE SPEECH - THE BEADROCK OF ANY DEMOCRACY! 23:00  |  George W. 15/02/07
  73.   Give the Germans a round of Applause!! 23:05  |  Danite 15/02/07
  74.   Go Zuendel! 23:10  |  W 15/02/07
  75.   Make them pay billions - like Germany, Austria 23:10  |  Anita Goldman 15/02/07
  76.   Tricky stuff 23:11  |  Roger Vista 15/02/07
  77.   to Arab sad and funny #61 23:25  |  puzzled 15/02/07
  78.   71. Roger Vista: Tricky stuff 23:26  |  KUTW 15/02/07
  79.   Much to do about nothing 23:35  |  Realistic 15/02/07
  80.   to 58, Jonathan S. 23:48  |  David 15/02/07
  81.   We must allow freedom of speech. 23:49  |  Deborah 15/02/07
  82.   Holocaust deniers 00:04  |  Sam 16/02/07
  83.   81. Deborah: freedom of speech. 00:09  |  KUTW 16/02/07
  84.   worth to learn 00:21  |  edi 16/02/07
  85.   silly law 00:22  |  David G 16/02/07
  86.   What are there only Holocaust deniers? 00:28  |  bimmer 16/02/07
  87.   #52 bimmer abuses Holocaust for Pal slander 00:33  |  Pssd Off American 16/02/07
  88.   and WWII didn`t happen either........... 00:39  |  r 16/02/07
  89.   #80 01:04  |  Shual 16/02/07
  90.   GZLives 01:27  |  philip 16/02/07
  91.   jonathan, Channah, KUTV, please read my Post #40 01:45  |  bev 16/02/07
  92.   What about everything else denied by the Jews? 01:54  |  ZacAttack 16/02/07
  93.   Pretend Democracy 02:26  |  Mike Oxbent 16/02/07
  94.   "As long it does not incite violence or hatred".... 02:32  |  Fritz 16/02/07
  95.   holocaust denial 02:36  |  tom 16/02/07
  96.   denial - the real fear for Israel 08:41  |  hmmmmmm 16/02/07
  97.   Fritz 08:49  |  Yosemite 16/02/07
  98.   Totally in favor 09:04  |  Gordon 16/02/07
  99.   hmmmmm to should be sectioned 10:13  |  Rufus 16/02/07
  100.   #56 Was the trial about his evil`agenda` or belief?? 13:25  |  T A Sheppard 16/02/07
  101.   #49 A 13:28  |  T A Sheppard 16/02/07
  102.   Dont worry! He`ll be out soon O/A "ill-health" 13:43  |  Alan 16/02/07
  103.   # 2 Sami 22:26  |  Edith 19/02/07
  104.   #5 Do you believe Arab smears... 16:39  |  T A Sheppard 20/02/07
  105.   To #99 23:07  |  Mannstein 22/02/07
  106.   TO SAM 18:52  |  joe 08/10/08
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