[LINK] Schadenfreude

[rfmcdonald]

Ernst Zundel is finding Germany congenial.

The trial of Ernst Zundel, a leading Holocaust denier, opened Tuesday with the judge dismissing a defence lawyer, himself a well-known far-right activist who was convicted of incitement earlier this year.

Zundel, 66, who wrote the book The Hitler We Loved and Why, faces charges of incitement, libel and disparaging the dead. He was deported from Canada eight months ago after authorities there ruled he posed a threat to national and international security.

Shortly after the trial opened, Judge Ulrich Meinerzhagen ordered defence lawyer Horst Mahler dismissed on grounds he was barred from practising earlier this year after he was convicted of incitement for distributing anti-Semitic propaganda.

Meinerzhagen further questioned whether the rest of Zundel's defence team would be prepared to mount a "regular" case after one of them described Jews as an "enemy people" in a motion.