Schismatic bishop faces trial over Holocaust denial

BERLIN (RNS) The case of an outspoken schismatic bishop headed back to
court on Monday (July 4), with lawyers for British Bishop Richard
Williamson saying he shouldn't be punished for downplaying the severity
of the Holocaust.

Williamson, 71, was convicted last year after he told a Swedish
broadcast team in 2008 that "no more than 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi
concentration camps ... not one of them by gassing in a gas chamber."

Denying the full scope of the Holocaust is a crime under German law,
and although the interview was with a Swedish news outlet, Williamson
made the statements in Germany, where it eventually became viewable
online.