November 17, 2005
The trial in Germany of Ernst Zündel on charges of incitement to hatred and Holocaust denial has been postponed until a new defense lawyer can be found. According to the court in the city of Mannheim, Zündel’s appointed lawyer, Sylvia Stolz, had to be disqualified because her petition to the court included potentially actionable statements of an anti-Semitic nature. Stolz reportedly wanted to bring in extremist Horst Mahler as co-counsel, but Mahler is banned from pleading in court because of similar acts. The trial of Zündel, 66, is unlikely to resume until next year. Zündel had left his native Germany in 1958 to avoid military service. He was deported from Canada back to Germany in March, after Canadian courts declared his Internet site unconstitutional.