La sua colpa??
ha espresso un pensiero non conforme.
rischia tre anni

....la democrazia si difende.....

German far-right leader probed for Hitler praise

28.09.2004 5.28 pm

BERLIN - State prosecutors in Berlin have opened an investigation into the head of a German far-right political party after he praised Adolf Hitler as a "great statesman".

Michael Grunwald, a spokesman for Berlin state prosecutors, said on Monday Udo Voigt, head of the National Democratic Party (NPD), was under investigation for the comments he made in an interview with the weekly newspaper Junge Freiheit.

"He is being investigated on suspicion of disparaging the state," said Grunwald. If found guilty the NPD leader faces a fine or a jail sentence of up to three years.

German law explicitly forbids the glorification of the Third Reich and bans the use of Nazi symbols and insignia.

Earlier this month, the NPD won 9.2 per cent of the vote in regional state elections in Saxony, entering a state parliament for the first time since 1968 and prompting an outcry from the media and politicians.

Asked for his assessment of the Nazi dictator in the interview published last Friday, Voigt said: "There's no doubt that Hitler was a great German statesman. But I don't deny that he ultimately bears the responsibility for Germany's defeat."

Voigt, a former soldier, added that his party, which the government has likened to the Nazis and unsuccessfully tried to ban, aimed to "unravel the Federal Republic of Germany".

Voigt, who has led the NPD for eight years, also said the Allies' postwar trials of Nazi leaders in Nuremberg for war crimes were unfair and characterised by "victor's justice".

- REUTERS