HOLOCAUST denier Fredrick Toben aggravated charges of criminal contempt of court by attacking federal judges and the judicial process, a court has heard.
Dr Toben yesterday pleaded not guilty to 28 charges alleging he breached orders made by the Federal Court in 2002, as well as an undertaking he made last year to remove offensive material from his website. The former schoolteacher, who spent seven months in a German prison in 1999 for inciting racism, is facing a possible finding of criminal contempt in the Federal Court in Adelaide.
Jeremy Jones, former president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, has alleged Dr Toben failed to comply with orders made by judge Catherine Branson in 2002 to remove material that breached the Racial Discrimination Act. The postings implied the Holocaust did not happen and doubted the existence of gas chambers at the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Dr Toben has also been banned from publishing material implying Jews who were offended or challenged by Holocaust denial were of limited intelligence, and that some Jewish people had exaggerated the number of Jews killed in World War II and the circumstances for financial gain.
Robin Margo SC, representing Mr Jones, said Dr Toben had aggravated the alleged breach of court orders by attacking the judiciary on his website. He said Dr Toben continued to cast aspersions against judicial officers and the legal process, promoting a view that the court was “merely a proxy” for Jews. Mr Margo said such “public defiance” of the court’s authority as well as personal attacks on Mr Jones undermined the fabric of justice.
Melbourne barrister David Perkins, representing Dr Toben, unsuccessfully applied for a permanent stay of 11 of the charges.
Judge Bruce Lander, hearing the case, said any evidence tendered arguing that the Holocaust did not occur would be ruled irrelevant.
The hearing continues.
Source:
www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24135417-5006787,00.html
Pia Akerman | August 06, 2008