Swiss Holocaust revisionist jailed for one year

Gaston-Armand Amaudruz has been given a one-year jail term by a Lausanne court for repeatedly writing articles which negate the Holocaust and Nazi war crimes.

Gaston-Armand Amaudruz has been given a one-year jail term by a Lausanne court for repeatedly writing articles which negate the Holocaust and Nazi war crimes.

The prosecution had asked for a fifteen month sentence. It is only the second time since the advent of the 1995 Swiss anti-racism law that a sentence of this length has not been suspended.

The sentence is particularly heavy because Amaudruz is almost 80 years old. At the same time he is regarded as the long time spokesman of the Swiss revisionist and neo-Nazi groups.

Amaudruz has fervently upheld Nazi ideology since the end of World War Two, along with a handful of Swiss, including bookstore owners, who have been convicted of selling revisionist histories.

It is thought that Amaudruz first came into contact with Nazis engaged at the German legation in Berne during World War Two when Switzerland was neutral.

Since the anti-racism law came into force in 1995, some 150 actions have been brought, most of them concerned with Nazi ideology.

During the run up to the law, there were qualms on the part of some liberal-minded academics about the idea of suppressing books of any kind.

In fact the courts are still feeling their way in applying the law, which is likely to be revised in the next few years.

by Peter Haller