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| David Irving out of jail ?
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David Irving
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VIENNA (EJP)--- British Holocaust revisionist David Irving, who was jailed earlier this year in Austria, could be out in a matter of months, according to his new lawyer.
The self-proclaimed historian was jailed for three years by a court in Vienna for denying the Holocaust – an offence under Austrian law – in speeches given to far-right groups in 1989.
But his lawyer Herbert Schaller, 83, believes an appeals court will overturn his verdict and says they are now just waiting for a decision, which he expects by the autumn.
Schaller said: "I don’t think the Supreme Court has any other choice than to overrule the verdict as grave errors were made in the initial trial. The sentence imposed on my client is ridiculously long - child abusers often don’t get half of that. I personally find the matter outrageous.
"Mr Irving was thrown into prison for something that he said 17 years ago. There really is no legal ground for the dubious decision made so far, and I am not even contemplating the possibility that the Supreme Court will uphold the verdict.
"Even if they still find him guilty, I am confident they will considerably reduce his sentence."
Public prosecutors, on the other hand, are seeking a longer sentence, up to the maximum 10 years for the crime.
Schaller, who served in the army under the Nazis during World War II, is well-known in far-right circles and has been dubbed the "neo-Nazi lawyer" by the local press after defending a number of prominent Holocaust deniers such as Ernst Zuendel.
Irving’s change of lawyer from the respected Elmar Kresbach to the aging Schaller came amid reports that the historian has run out of cash.
Speaking in London, Bente Hogh, Irving’s Danish partner, admitted that she and their 12-year-old daughter, Jessica, had had to move from their luxury apartment in Queen Anne’s Gate near Buckingham Palace into a tiny flat with no view. "It’s all we can afford. We’re practically broke," said Hogh, 42.
But Irving, 67, is hoping to write his way back into solvency with a self-justifying memoir entitled ‘Irving’s War’.
As well as providing possible future income for his family and him, the book is also giving the writer something to do while behind bars.
Speaking after his initial trial in February, Irving said that he was locked up for 23 hours a day and had only one hour’s exercise "in a yard half the size of my drawing room in Queen Anne’s Gate".
He also makes good use of the prison library, although he was refused books on Auschwitz he had asked for, and said that prison was a "good place for a writer to be – the solitude is good".
But the Hitler apologist has now been banned from talking to the press after continuing to question the Holocaust in several interviews following the verdict – a move that could see him spending more time in jail since public prosecutors in Vienna said that they were looking at filing new charges against him for denying the Holocaust in public once again.
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