German court fines British bishop for denying Holocaust

A dissident Catholic bishop has been fined 10,000 euros by a German court for denying the Holocaust.

The court in the Bavarian city of Regensburg found 70-year-old British bishop Richard Williamson guilty of inciting racial hatred after he stated in a 2009 television interview in Germany that he did not believe Jews were killed in gas chambers in World War II.

He suggested in the interview that no more than 300,000 Jews had died at the hands of Nazis in concentration camps.

Holocaust denial is a criminal offense in Germany.

Presiding judge Karin Frahm was quoted by ABC news as saying: “The statements by the accused represent a denial of the actions taken under the National Socialist regime. Bishop Williamson must have assumed that his remarks would draw attention. Williamson knowingly accepted that attention.”

Bishop Williamson was barred from attending Friday’s proceedings by his order, the Saint Pius X Society, in what is another embarrassment for the Catholic Church following months of revelations about unreported child abuse by priests in Ireland, Canada, the US, Germany and Malta.

The bishop was one of several clergymen to be consecrated as a bishop without the blessing of the Pope after the Saint Pius X Society broke away from Rome.

The Pope came under fire last year when he overturned Williamson’s excommunication one day before his interview was broadcast on German television. The Vatican later claimed it had been unaware of the bishop’s comments.

The bishop was brought before the Regensburg court after refusing to pay a previous fine for denying the Holocaust.