An appeals court in the Greek capital Athens has acquitted a well-known neo-Nazi of charges of Holocaust denial. The five-member court on found Kostas Plevris not guilty of "incitement to racial hatred and violence against the Jews" by his 1,400-page book "Jews – The Whole Truth," in which he denies the Holocaust and makes blatantly anti-Semitic statements. Plevris had been convicted in December 2007 and sentenced to 14 months in prison, as well as three years probation.
The Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece said the court's decision "saddens, perplexes and causes concern among citizens of a modern democratic society as a self-confessed promoter of Nazism and racism remains unpunished though he not only distorts proven historical evidence, but even worse, uses his pen to incite hatred and provoke discrimination and violence against citizens of Greece and Europe."
In the book, Plevris calls Jews "sub-human" and writes: "I constantly blame the German Nazis for not ridding our Europe of Jewish Zionism when it was in their power to do so." He also urges his readers to "Free yourselves from Jewish propaganda that deceives you with falsehoods about concentration camps, gas chambers, 'ovens' and other fairy tales about the pseudo-Holocaust."