May 28, 1996
The Holocaust promoters seem to have shifted strategy in their relentless
efforts to keep a challenge to dubious "Holocaust" assertions
away from the Internet.
The latest move is a privately laid civil law suit for personal libel against
Ernst Zündel, the world's foremost proponent of impartial public investigation
into scientifically and forensically challenged "Holocaust" claims.
Sabina Citron of Toronto, Canada, an immensely wealthy auto parts factory
owner and one-time president of the "Canadian Holocaust Remembrance
Association", has hired one of Toronto's top legal firms to sue Zündel
in Civil Court for material published on the Zundelsite.
Citron is an old nemesis and fierce political opponent of Zündel's
who has for years waged a protracted struggle to silence his message. This
is her 6th attempt to silence Zündel. She has lost, or failed in,
all previous ones.
This latest move will be of special interest to civil litigation lawyers,
law professors, law students, etc. who are involved in watching what is
happening as Freedom of Speechp;especially concerning the Holocaust
and related issues--is being curtailed by special interests on the Internet
and elsewhere.
There are few precedents yet relating to Internet censorship as they pertain
to "libel". Of special legal interest is the fact that the contested
material appeared simultaneously in hard copy and on the Internetp;but
only the Internet material is being challenged.
In previous legal challenges initiated by Sabina Citron and her Holocaust
Remembrance Association to Zündel's writings that appeared in conventional
print and were dispursed by conventional means, a judge imposed a draconian
gag order on Zündel lasting off and on for almost 9 years while litigation
was going on. As a result, Zündel could not refute media slander and
libel and even outright lies about him.
This litigation was ultimately won by Ernst Zundel in the Canadian Supreme
Court on August 27, 1992.
Should a similar move succeed this time, it would be an effective way of
silencing a politically inconvenient voice on the Internet by finding ways
of making it appear as though this was a private matter between two antagonistic
parties and not a discussion of differing views on a controversial historical
topic with diametrically opposed German and Jewish viewpoints.
The world-wide Internet community is well acquainted with the Zundelsite
efforts to get to the bottom of many of the fraudulent Holocaust claimsp;as
was amply demonstrated in the Simon Wiesenthal Center efforts at the beginning
of this year to curtail, censor and ultimately shut down websites like
the Zundelsite.
Deutsche Telekom even got involved by blocking all access to the 1,500
clients on Zundel's server, Webcom, in the hope that Webcom would kick
Zündel off, as others had done beforep;a move that was soundly
defeated through technical counter-moves by world-wide, computer-wise Freedom-of-Speech
proponents.
This unfolding "libel" strategy will be immensely interesting
for the legal professions as well as communicators and broadcasters world-widep;and
media law people specifically.
Here are the points enumerated in the communications from Citron's lawyers:
IN THE MATTER OF the Libel and Slander Act
R.S.O. 1990, c.L.12
TO: Ernst Zundel
206 Carlton Street
Toronto, Ontario
M5A 2L1
AND TO: Samisdat Publishers Ltd.
206 Carlton Street
Toronto, Ontario
M5A 2L1
LIBEL NOTICE
TAKE NOTICE that Sabina Citron complains in the following articles,
published on the "Zundelsite" Internet Website and seen by her
on May 15, 1996, are defamatory of her. In each case, Mrs. Citron states
that the articles contain false and defamatory statements about her and
that the articles were published maliciously.
1. "Urgent Appeal For Your Co-operation: To my friends in the intelligence,
scholastic and Revisionist community:"
A copy of this article is attached as Schedule "A" to this
Notice. Mrs. Citron complains of the portions of this article that have
been highlighted (by a vertical line in the left margin) on Schedule "A".
Without limiting the natural and ordinary meanings and innuendos of the
article, Mrs. Citron complains that the article was maliciously intended,
meant and understood to mean that:
(a) Mrs. Citron is responsible for the promotion of erroneous facts related to the Holocaust;
(b) Mrs. Citron is responsible for the promotion of the "unconscionable consequences of the Holocaust" including the conduct described below;
(c) Mrs. Citron engages in extortion
(d) Mrs. Citron is implicated in crimes, rackets, shady deals, extortion or war crimes against Germans and others; and
(e) Mrs. Citron has engaged in frivolous and vindictive conduct
2. "Background and Detailed Chronology of Ernst Zundel Persecution"
A copy of this article is attached as Schedule "B". Mrs.
Citron complains of the portions of this article that have been highlighted
on Schedule "B".
Without limiting the natural and ordinary meanings and innuendos of the
article, Mrs. Citron complains that the article was maliciously intended,
meant and understood to mean that:
(a) Mrs. Citron is a member of or has co-operated with terrorist organizations;
(b) Mrs. Citron improperly participated in a terror telephone campaign to harass Mr. Zundel;
(c) Mrs. Citron has obtained improper access to the courtroom and to the crown attorney during Mr. Zundel's 1985 trial;
(d) Mrs. Citron improperly participated in a campaign to have Mr. Zundel deported to Germany;
(e) Mrs. Citron has been ostracized by the Jewish community
(f) Mrs. Citron is perpetuating a lie in attempting to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive;
(g) Mrs. Citron improperly urged people to engage in the harassment of politicians;
(h) Mrs. Citron advocates a draconian, dictatorial form of government
(i) Mrs. Citron is a member of a vindictive and militant organization; and
(j) Mrs. Citron is a vigilante
3. "Power Letter - January 1996"
A copy of this article is attached as Schedule "C". Mrs. Citron
complains of the portions of this article that have been highlighted on
Schedule "C".
Without limiting the natural and ordinary meanings and innuendos of the
article, Mrs. Citron complains that the article was maliciously intended,
meant and understood to mean that:
(a) Mrs. Citron engages in terrorism and brow beats and persecutes true patriots
(b) Mrs. Citron engages in a parasitic extortion racket;
(c) Mrs. Citron is an enemy of freedom in Canada and the world;
(d) Mrs. Citron enforces false historical facts;
(e) Mrs. Citron engaged in an illegal conspiracy with a Justice of the Peace either to fail to create records of a court proceeding or to destroy court records;
(f) Mrs. Citron has reason to fear revelation of the discussion she had with the Justice of the Peace at the time she swore an information against Mr. Zundel.
4. "Power Letter - March 1996"
A copy of this article is attached as Schedule "D". Mrs. Citron
complains of the portions of this article that have been highlighted on
Schedule "D".
Without limiting the natural and ordinary meanings and innuendos of the
article, Mrs. Citron complains that the article was maliciously intended,
meant and understood to mean that:
(a) the charges that Mrs. Citron brought against Mr. Zundel were ridiculous;
(b) Mrs. Citron is engaged in promoting a horrific blood libel;
(c) Mrs. Citron's activities, in keeping alive the memory of the Holocaust are perverse;
(d) Mrs. Citron has conspired with others to influence Canadian and German authorities to act improperly.
5. "Power Letter - April 1996"
A copy of this article is attached as Schedule "E". Mrs. Citron
complains of the portions of this article that have been highlighted on
Schedule "E".
Without limiting the natural and ordinary meanings and innuendos of the
article, Mrs. Citron complains that the article was maliciously intended,
meant and understood to mean that:
(a) Mrs. Citron is engaged in censorship, repression and abuse of the process of the courts;
(b) Mrs. Citron has engaged in conduct analogous to mass murder;
(c) Mrs. Citron has lied about the Holocaust;
(d) Mrs. Citron has abused the processes of the court by "shopping institutions and judges";
(e) Mrs. Citron would lie, cheat or falsify information in connection with her efforts to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive; and
(f) Mrs. Citron has engaged in an illegal conspiracy against Mr. Zundel with the German government.
6. "Power Letter - May 1996"
A copy of this article is attached as Schedule "F". Mrs. Citron
complains of the portions of this article that have been highlighted on
Schedule "F".
Without limiting the natural and ordinary meanings and innuendos of the
article, Mrs. Citron complains that the article was maliciously intended,
meant and understood to mean that:
(a) Mrs. Citron's charges against Mr. Zundel were madcap, spurious or frivolous and thus an abuse of the process of the court.
7. "Power Letter - December 1995"
A copy of this article is attached as Schedule "G". Mrs. Citron
complains of the portions of this article that have been highlighted on
Schedule "C".
Without limiting the natural and ordinary meanings and innuendos of the
article, Mrs. Citron complains that the article was maliciously intended,
meant and understood to mean that:
(a) Mrs. Citron's actions had improperly cost the taxpayers of Canada approximately $6 million.
8. "Background Information! Keep on File! Press Release! Potential
New Zundel Holocaust Trial"
Mrs. Citron complains of the portions of this article that have been highlighted
on Schedule "H". A copy of this article is attached as Schedule
"H".
Without limiting the natural and ordinary meanings and innuendos of the
article, Mrs. Citron complains that the article was maliciously intended,
meant and understood to mean that:
(a) Mrs. Citron engaged in an illegal conspiracy with a Justice of the Peace either to fail to create records of a court proceeding or the recording of or to destroy court records;
(b) Mrs. Citron behaved inappropriately in the course of judicial proceedings;
(c) Mrs. Citron engaged in an illegal conspiracy with government officials against Mr. Zundel.
9. December 15, 1995 RE: world's best-known "Holocaust Denier"
faces new "criminal charges" in Canada!"
A copy of this article is attached as Schedule "I". Mrs. Citron
complains of the portions of this article that have been highlighted on
Schedule "I".
Without limiting the natural and ordinary meanings and innuendos of the
article, Mrs. Citron complains that the article was maliciously intended,
meant and understood to mean that:
(a) Mrs. Citron has abused the processes of the court, and
(b) Mrs. Citron engaged in an illegal conspiracy with a Justice of the Peace either to fail to create records of a court proceeding or to destroy court records.
10. "December 19, 1995 Report from Toronto Court Appearance:
9:40 AM EST"
A copy of this article is attached as Schedule "J". Mrs. Citron
complains of the portions of this article that have been highlighted on
Schedule "J".
Without limiting the natural and ordinary meanings and innuendos of the
article, Mrs. Citron complains that the article was maliciously intended,
meant and understood to mean that:
(a) Mrs. Citron engaged in an illegal conspiracy with the Government of Ontario to use government money improperly to persecute Mr. Zundel.
Dated: May 24, 1996 at Toronto, Ontario
The Complainant by his Solicitors
Tory Tory DesLauriers &Binnington
Suite 3000, Aetna Tower
P.O. Box 270
Toronto-Dominion Centre
Toronto, Ontario
M5K 1N2
Robert P. Armstrong
Tel: (416) 865-7311
Fax: (416) 865-7380
(End of document)
Ernst Zündel solicits professional ideas and input on how to deal
with this new threat to his Right to Dissent and Free Speech.
Individuals, Free Speech/First Amendment Protection advocates and/or related
organizations wanting to participate through legal advice and research,
by studying and supplying case law examples, or wishing to contribute in
other ways, please contact Ernst Zündel at 416-922-9850