ThoughtCrime: 04/18/91
Faurisson Convicted of Questioning Gas Chambers
On April 18, 1991 Professor
Robert Faurisson was convicted of violating France's peculiar law against
questioning "the existence of one or more crimes against humanity as defined
by Article 6 of [the charter of] the International Military Tribunal, annexed
to the London Agreement of August 8, 1945, and which were committed either
by members of an organization declared to be criminal according to Article
9 of the same treaty, or by a person recognized as guilty of such crimes
by a French or international court."
Faurisson made the following statement,
"Due to an interview I published in the September 1990 issue of Le Choc
du Mois [The Shock of the Month], the XVIIth Chamber of the Criminal
Court of Paris, presided over by Claude Greiller, has just imposed a
fine of 430,000 francs: 180,000 francs on the publisher, and 250,000
francs on me, of which 100,000 are suspended."
Judge Claude Grellier made the following point in his decision. He said
that the new statute "constitutes a new limit to freedom of expression and
opinion, as defined by Article XI of the Declaration of the Rights of Man
and the Citizen of August 26, 1789."
Professor Faurisson is appealing his conviction. Dr. Faurisson will shortly
be tried on a different set of charges, arising from the same interview
in Le Choc du Mois, stemming from his alleged violation of France's 1972
hate law.
Adapted from IHR Newsletter May 1991 No.80 PO Box 2739, Newport Beach, CA
92659.
"Thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime IS death."
George Orwell
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