September 15, 2005
The Austrian parliament has voted unanimously to lift the parliamentary immunity of a politician accused of denying Nazi crimes. The right-wing politician, John Gudenus is a member of the chamber of representatives for the city region of Vienna and a member of the upper house of the Austrian parliament, the Federal Council. The vote followed a request from the Vienna public prosecutor’s office, which suspects that Gudenus violated a law forbidding the denial of Nazi crimes. On 4 May 2005, Gudenus had visited the site of the former death camp Mauthausen and Gudenus reportedly said that some camp inmates in photographs there looked better physically than he did. On 29 June, the Vienna regional assembly already voted lifted Gudenus’ immunity in connection to comments he had made in April which called the extent of the Holocaust into question.
