Germany's Jails Filling with Political Prisoners once again

German Neo-Nazi Sentenced to Two Years in Prison for Denying Holocaust

The Associated Press

GREVESMUEHLEN, Germany (AP) - A well-known German neo-Nazi was sentenced Thursday to two years in prison without parole for denying the Holocaust.

Manfred Roeder, 70, was given the sentence for referring to the Holocaust as "humbug" during an August 1998 election rally in the eastern German city of Stralsund.

In Germany, it is illegal to deny the Holocaust. The rally was part of his unsuccessful parliamentary campaign as a candidate for the extreme-right National Party of Germany.

During the trial, Roeder said a tape of his speech had been "manipulated and falsified," claiming statements that would have cleared him were edited out. But the judge agreed with three witnesses who said the tape was genuine.

Roeder has spent time in prison before. In 1982, he was convicted in Stuttgart of incitement to murder and other charges related to arson attacks that killed two foreigners. He was released in 1990 after serving eight years of a 13-year sentence.