Update on Georges Theil

by Robert Faurisson

In a note bearing today's date, G. Theil, recalling another, earlier conviction, estimates the sum total of his financial penalties and costs at €130,000.

G. Theil's postal address: BP 50-38, F-38037 GRENOBLE CEDEX 2 (France)

Update on Georges Theil

by Robert Faurisson

In France, repression of revisionism is increasing.

On March 3, 2006 Georges Theil, 65, a retired telecommunications engineer, had his conviction for "Holocaust denial" upheld by the court of appeal of Limoges. He was guilty of sending, in a period running from April to June 2004, a booklet of his own revisionist writings to just a small number of persons in that region, and sentenced to six months' imprisonment without remission and a fine of €30,000, ordered to pay €9,300 in damages, and hit with still other sanctions as well.

Yesterday, May 17, in Lyon the same Georges Theil was convicted on appeal for having made a brief revisionist statement on October 14, 2004 in front of a local television journalist's camera, and sentenced to a new six-month prison term without remission, fined another €10,000, and ordered to pay €40,500 in damages as well as to cover the costs of having the judgment published in two newspapers (probably as much as €8,000).

The offender has lodged a petition concerning the first case with the superior court of appeal in Paris, and is going to do the same for the second. If he fails there, he will, in principle, have to go to prison. In the first case, he has already paid out €39,300, and even a bit more. In the second case, he is going to have to pay out €50,500, not counting the legal publication fees. Some organisations have reacted with lightning speed: this very morning, by faxes sent to Georges Theil's solicitor, they were demanding their pound of flesh.

In addition to these financial penalties it is appropriate to note, for the six proceedings involved (trials, first appeals, final appeals), the lawyer's fees and other costs amounting to substantial sums.

As for the French media, they either pass these convictions over in silence or say they are glad of them.

On January 15 of this year, Georges Theil had sent out a plea for support to the 45 French intellectuals who were ostentatiously demanding, in the name of freedom of historical research and freedom of expression, repeal of the laws hindering those freedoms. Only two intellectuals answered him: one, Edgar Morin, who is Jewish, told him he could not help in any way because he had himself been found guilty of "racial defamation" (he had, to the mind of the Paris court of appeal, too strongly criticised Israeli policy!); the other, professor René Rémond, a Catholic and a shabbos goy, wrote back curtly expressing his refusal to come to Theil's aid.

New trial for Faurisson

French revisionist Robert Faurisson's most recent trial is scheduled for Tuesday, July 11, in the XVIIth chamber of the Paris criminal court (2, 4 Boulevard du Palais; nearest underground station: "Cité") at 1.30 p.m. Faurisson is accused of having granted, last year, an interview of revisionist nature to the Iranian radio and television station Sahar, in the context of a telephone conversation with a Teheran journalist who had called him. Because the satellite channel Sahar's broadcasts can be picked up in France, France's Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (CSA), headed by Dominique Baudis, filed charges against him with the public prosecutor's office in Paris.

The Holocaust in Alabama

Holocaust revisionism has surfaced in the race for Attorney General in Alabama, of all places. Whether or not democratic candidate Larry Darby is correct in his views, one has to wonder what in the world any of this has to do with politics in America in 2006. Why does anyone even care?

Siegfried Verbeke released from prison

Revisionist Siegfried Verbeke has been released from prison after spending nine months in prison and paying a 1,000 euro fine. His passport has been confiscated and he is restricted to living either in Belgium or Germany.