From news.com.au network,From correspondents in Mannheim, February 10, 06 ...
NEO-NAZI historian Ernst Zuendel, one of the leading figures in the Holocaust denial movement, went on trial in Germany today on several counts of inciting racial hatred. Mr Zuendel, 66, was applauded loudly by supporters as he entered the packed court in Mannheim, in southwestern Germany.
His trial was suspended in November after the court ordered the replacement of his lawyer, who was being advised by Horst Mahler, a leading ideologue of Germany's far-right National Democratic Party (NPD).
Mr Mahler has praised the September 2001 attacks on the United States and has accused Jews of seeking "world domination".
Today, the trial was immediately dominated by a new row over his defence, as three lawyers chosen by Mr Zuendel complained about another three the court had appointed to the historian's defence team.
The lawyers, who also include right-wing sympathiser Juergen Rieger, complained that Judge Ulrich Meinerzhagen had given the three lawyers appointed by the state access to documents which was denied to them.
Mr Zuendel, who is seen as one of the main purveyors of anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi material in the world and has described Adolf Hitler as a "man of peace", sat quietly throughout the proceedings.
Besides inciting racial hatred, he is also accused of systematically promoting revisionist theories about the Holocaust in his books.
Denying the Holocaust is a crime in Germany and if convicted, Mr Zuendel faces up to five years in jail.
He left Germany for Canada at the age of 19 but was deported in March 2005 on a German arrest warrant.
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