Austria – David Irving Arrested on Charges of Denying the Holocaust

 The Austrian Ministry of Justice in Vienna announced that Holocaust denier David Irving had been arrested on 11^th November 2005. Irving was arrested on the basis of a warrant issued for his arrest in 1989 on charges of denying the Holocaust. After his arrest, Irving was transferred to a detention facility in the city of Graz. This warrant was issued 16 years ago following lectures he had given in Vienna and in the southern Austrian town of Leoben. Irving is the author of about 30 books, among them “Hitler’s War”, in which he casts doubts regarding the extent of the Holocaust. He has been charged many times in the past of disseminating racist and antisemitic ideas. According to the Austrian State Prosecutor’s Office, if Irving is tried and convicted he would be liable to a jail sentence of up to 20 years. Irving has said on many occasions that he does not deny the fact that Jews were murdered by the Nazis, but claimed that the number of Jewish victims of the Holocaust is much smaller that is generally believed. He even cast doubts as to the extent of the use of gas chambers in the camps. (Ha’aretz and the News Agencies)