Revisionist Georges Theil convicted and heavily sentenced in Lyon
Today, January 3, by decision of the high court of Lyon (6th chamber, where press-related cases are heard; presiding judge: Fernand Schir), Georges Theil, a former elected official from the Front National, has been found guilty, under the Fabius-Gayssot Act (July 13, 1990), of a revisionist “disputing”. Before a reporter’s camera he had uttered some words on the technical impossibility of the Nazi gas chambers’ existence and operation.
He is sentenced to the following:
– six months’ imprisonment;
– €10,000 fine;
– payment of the cost of having extracts of the judgment published in the dailies Libération and Le Progrès (Lyon);
– remittance of €3,000 to each of the eleven plaintiffs;
– remittance of €1,000 to each of the eleven plaintiffs to cover their legal costs;
– payment of €90 in procedural fees.
G. Theil, through the intermediary of his counsel, barrister Eric Delcroix, is to lodge an appeal.
I shall recall that on October 7, 2005, by decision of the high court of Limoges, François Cassasus-Builhé presiding, the same G. Theil had been convicted on the same grounds for having sent to a few persons a copy of the little book that he published in 2002, under the name Gilbert Dubreuil, entitled Un cas d’insoumission / Comment on devient révisionniste (A Case of Insubmission / On becoming a revisionist; an English edition of this book is expected to come out in May 2006).
He was then sentenced to the following:
– six months’ imprisonment;
– five years’ prohibition of standing for public office;
– payment of the cost of having extracts of the judgement published in the dailies Le Monde, Le Figaro, Le Populaire du Centre and L’Echo de la Haute-Vienne;
– confiscation of the objects under seal (that is, the computers, books and documents previously seized at his house by the police);
– payment to each of the various plaintiffs of the following sums: €7,000 and €350 plus €1 and €350 plus €1,000 and €350 plus €1,000 and €350 plus €1 and another €350;
– payment of €90 in procedural fees. G. Theil has begun remitting large sums to the plaintiffs. He has, in this case as well, lodged an appeal through the intermediary of barrister Delcroix. That action will be heard on February 3, 2006 at the court of appeal of Limoges.
I should like to point out that the cost of court-ordered publication of judgements in a certain number of newspapers can be quite heavy. As for the various expenses entailed by the preparation and hearing of these cases, I know that they have been considerable.
I have learnt, just this instant, that the text of the Schir decision is said to be one of exceptional length for such a case: 48 pages.
January 3, 2006