March 26, 2008

Udo Voigt, leader of German far-right party, charged with defamation

Udo Voigt (second from left) at a neo-nazi conference with a bunch of friends.
Regular readers may recognise Nick Griffin's old mate Roberto Fiore (centre)
The head of the main German far-right party was charged Tuesday with incitement and defamation for allegedly publishing a pamphlet before the 2006 soccer World Cup that prosecutors said called into question whether non white players should be on the national team.

A prosecutor, Simone Herbeth, said in a statement that Udo Voigt, head of the National Democratic Party, had been charged with incitement and defamation over the pamphlets. The party spokesman, Klaus Beier, and a prominent member, Frank Schwerdt, have also been charged, Herbeth said.

"The indictment charges that the accused are responsible for publishing pamphlets ahead of the 2006 soccer World Cup which, through a picture of the No. 25" - a number that was worn by a black player at the time - "called into question whether this player, as well as other non white-skinned players, were worthy of representing Germany as national players," Herbeth said in a statement.

The pamphlets showed the traditional white German jersey with the No. 25, worn at the time by the defender Patrick Owomoyela. They read: "White, not just a jersey color! For a real NATIONAL team!"

Owomoyela, who has a German mother and a Nigerian father, plays for Werder Bremen but is no longer a member of the German national squad.

The National Democratic Party called the charges "absurd" and "political" in a statement issued on its Web site.

"The German justice authorities are ever more zealous when it comes to pursuing and persecuting the national opposition," the statement read.

Beier said in an interview by telephone that the use of No. 25 was "pure chance" and insisted that the quality of the printing was unclear, meaning that the number could be interpreted as a 26 or even a 23. "Everyone can see their own favorite number in it," Beier said.

Backed by the German soccer federation, Owomoyela filed suit against the party in 2006 over the pamphlets, some 70,000 of which were confiscated by the authorities during a search at the party's national headquarters.

Prosecutors charge that the party then printed another series of pamphlets showing 10 white and one black player in German national jerseys under the question, "German National Team 2010?"

International Herald Tribune

National Democratic Party (NPD). Germany’s leading nazi group. NPD leaders deny the Holocaust took place and revere Adolf Hitler. The NPD shares many of its activists with the outlawed Blood and Honour skinhead movement. In August 2002 Griffin attended a festival put on by the NPD’s newspaper Deutsche Stimme (German Voice), where he was photographed with Voigt and the former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. Later that month he took part in an NPD summer school with Mahler and Voigt. In May 2003 Griffin was billed to speak alongside Voigt, Fiore and the NPD’s lawyer Jürgen Rieger, but failed to turn up.

Griffin organised a BNP demonstration outside the German embassy when the German government tried unsuccessfully to ban the NPD. When Griffin and other BNP officers were arrested in December 2006 on suspicion of causing race hate, the NPD website called for support for them.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm glad the state is on our side.

If the NPD did'nt have so many state plants in their party, the government would have banned them ages ago.

Anonymous said...

When I saw the brown suit in the picture I immediately thought of Dickie, When I saw him in his 'trademark' brown suit I immediately though of Hitler.

Rather too many similarities for my cup of tea!

Anonymous said...

They should have a police height chart behind them.

Anonymous said...

In August 2002 Griffin attended a festival put on by the NPD’s newspaper Deutsche Stimme (German Voice), where he was photographed with Voigt and the former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. Later that month he took part in an NPD summer school with Mahler and Voigt. In May 2003 Griffin was billed to speak alongside Voigt, Fiore and the NPD’s lawyer Jürgen Rieger, but failed to turn up

To add to this is the BNP councillor Chris Beverley.

Chris Beverley

Chris Beverley (also known as ‘Scarface) is a Leeds BNP councillor and Yorkshire elections officer. Beverley has extensive links with the German neo-Nazi party, the National Democratic Party (NPD).

In fact Beverley is the BNP’s key link with the NPD and the BNP. He acted as Griffin’s translator when the BNP leader visited the NPD.

In February 2007 Beverley attended a gathering of the European National Front (ENF) in Reisa, Germany. The ENF brings together some of the most vicious, hard line, anti-Semitic Nazi organisations on the Continent. They include La Falange (Spain), Noua Dreapta (Romania), Forza Nuova (Italy), Nationale Alliantie (Holland), Nordiska Förbundet (Sweden) and the now defunct Renouvea Française (France).

Beverley gave his speech to the ENF conference from a podium emblazoned with the banner “the voice of Germany.” The meeting was organised by Jens Pühse, a German skinhead leader who recently escaped conviction after appearing in court for producing and distributing racist CDs.

Beverley tried to conceal the fact his attendance of the ENF conference but was accidentally named on a Nazi website as one of the speakers. Photographs and of him speaking and his name were quickly removed from the website.

More facts on BNP thug Chris Beverley

Chris Beverley is one of the people behind the neo-nazi terrorist website Redwatch.

Beverly sent a letter threatening Alex Sobel, a Jewish Labour party candidate and UAF (Unite Against Fascism) member, to the Morley local newspaper, which they printed. In the threat Beverley wrote: "We know where you are, Alex." For months, when Mr Sobel returned from work, he found a car parked in his drive which he discovered was his neighbour's from across the road who was a BNP candidate for another ward. Then Mr Sobel's picture and address were posted on the Redwatch website. Redwatch/BNP threatened Alex Sobel in the streets, in the newspaper, and on the internet.

Anonymous said...

Former BNP candidate for Odsal and Wibsey in Bradford, outspoken racist Clarke, who is now standing for the English Democrats in the same ward, and is the Bradford English Democrats Official Organiser, has written yet another sickening anti-immigrant letter, praising Enoch Powell as a visionary, and whinging about the numbers of people "of immigrant descent" (his own words, forgetting the Romans, Anglo-Saxans, Normans, etc), in Wednesday's Bradford Telegraph & Argus newspaper.

Those BNP candidates who fell out with Nick Griffin and are now standing with other far right parties, must not be allowed to slip under the radar, as the BNP disintegrates.

The BNP aren't the only extreme right party vying for votes, he must not forget.

Anonymous said...

The links between the nazi National Democratic Party (NDP) and the BNP are quite well established.

NDP fascists have attended BNP events in Britain.

Further, the then NDP leader, Günther Deckert, addressed a BNP meeting in 2001 and a BNP rally in 1994.

When Günther Deckert was jailed in Germany for anti-Jewish Holocaust denial, the February 2000 edition of BNP magazine ‘Spearhead’ carried the following message of support for Deckert:

"Gunther Deckert, former leader of the German NPD party, wishes to thank all those of the BNP 'family' who thought of him and who sent their best greetings".