Germany / 16-08-2012
Far-right lawmaker convicted of defamation
Udo PastoersBerlin - The deputy leader of Germany's far-right National Democratic Party has been convicted of defamation over a 2010 speech in which he criticized a Holocaust memorial event.
A regional court in the north German city of Schwerin sentenced state lawmaker Udo Pastoers on Thursday to an eight-month suspended prison term.
The court also found Pastoers guilty of disparaging the memory of the deceased when he described the Holocaust memorial event - held in the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state parliament - as "theater."
The charges of defamation and disparaging the dead are unrelated to the offense of Holocaust denial, which is also a crime in Germany.
Pastoers has a week to appeal the verdict.
The NPD has been trying to tone down its extremist image to avoid a possible ban.
