Canadian Holocaust-denier loses lawsuit

TORONTO, Jan. 25 (JTA) — A Canadian judge has ruled that legislators did not violate the rights of a Holocaust- denier when they voted unanimously to bar him from holding a press conference last year in a Parliament building. The legislators probably banned Ernst Zundel from the precincts of Parliament Hill in order “to preserve the dignity and integrity of Parliament,” said Justice James Chadwick. According to Chadwick, the politicians did not prohibit Zundel from speaking, only from using a room in Parliament that is often made available to persons and organizations involved in some aspect of government business. The ruling throws out Zundel’s lawsuit in which he was seeking millions of dollars in damages. In the lawsuit, he had named all five of Canada’s national political parties as well as party leaders, members of Parliament and government ministers. The lawsuit also named the Canadian Jewish Congress, whose complaints to government ministers and legislators led to the parliamentary motion that prevented Zundel from holding the conference.