{"id":669,"date":"2022-11-14T10:32:39","date_gmt":"2022-11-14T10:32:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jailingopinions.com\/realhistory\/?p=669"},"modified":"2023-01-31T17:04:16","modified_gmt":"2023-01-31T17:04:16","slug":"french-scholar-vincent-reynouard-arrested-in-scotland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jailingopinions.com\/realhistory\/french-scholar-vincent-reynouard-arrested-in-scotland\/","title":{"rendered":"French scholar Vincent Reynouard arrested in Scotland"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

French revisionist scholar Vincent Reynouard<\/a> was arrested in Scotland on Thursday 10th November. He is presently in an Edinburgh prison cell, where he will remain until 23rd February next year, when a court will determine whether he should be extradited to France, where he would be jailed under that country’s laws restricting historical and scientific enquiry. (There will be a further court appearance on 8th December this year, but the main case will not be heard until February.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vincent Reynouard built his scholarly reputation with a detailed re-examination of what had been termed the ‘Massacre of Oradour’, and went on to become one of the world’s leading sceptical investigators of the ‘Holocaust’. Francophone readers should visit his excellent website.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

British and American readers might be shocked that a specialist squad of police from SO15 \u2013 the Counter-Terrorism Command, directed from London \u2013 swooped on a small Scottish village to arrest this 53-year-old scholar, who is not accused of anything that would be a crime in the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet in fact this is simply the latest example \u2013 though an especially important example \u2013 of an increasing trend across Europe, where politicised courts and prosecutors, aided by politicised police forces and intelligence agencies, are seeking to crush any dissent and enforce a quasi-religious obedience to one particular view of 20th century history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The question that should immediately occur to any educated European is: why?<\/p>\n\n\n

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Why should our rulers be so afraid of what remains a small minority of scholars who \u2013 inspired by revisionist pioneers Robert Faurisson in France and Arthur Butz in the USA \u2013 have persisted in raising serious questions about the alleged murder of six million Jews, in unfeasible homicidal gas chambers, on the undocumented alleged orders of Adolf Hitler?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any other area of history with such blatant evidential problems would have attracted dozens of academic sceptics. Yet with a handful of honourable exceptions, the academic world has not only been cowed into silence, but has queued up to accept lucrative commissions and tenured positions promoting the new religion of Holocaustianity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our rulers approach has been the well-tried one of ‘carrot and stick’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The carrot is the promise of well-remunerated posts in universities and charities, combined with fat cheques from publishers, newspapers, television stations and movie studios.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The stick (increasingly used during the last quarter-century) has involved heavy fines and prison sentences. In Germany, the 94-year-old Ursula Haverbeck has been sentenced to another year in prison, and is expected to begin her incarceration any day now. Her equally courageous compatriot Horst Mahler (now 86) has at the last count spent about fifteen years in prison since his 70th birthday, again for the ‘crimes’ of publishing articles and books, and giving interviews about this forbidden area of 20th century history. And in the USA the exiled German chemist Germar Rudolf faces determined efforts to have him extradited to Germany, where he would certainly be handed a long jail sentence.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Vincent Reynouard consulting his lawyer during one of his many court appearances in France. In the background can be seen one of Vincent’s most loyal supporters, J\u00e9r\u00f4me Bourbon, the editor of long-established journal <\/em>Rivarol.<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

So far the UK has no such specific law criminalising historical revisionism, and several British historians, including leftists and liberals such as Timothy Garton Ash, have commendably condemned all such laws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2008 a London court rejected the German government’s request for the extradition of Australian revisionist Dr Fredrick T\u00f6ben under a European Arrest Warrant. Will a similar situation protect Vincent Reynouard?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New extradition arrangements post-Brexit have only been in force since 11 pm on 31st December 2020, so while we can see the statutory position, we have little in the way of case law (on either side of the border).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am not a lawyer, but I was closely involved in research work for the T\u00f6ben case, and have had good reason more recently to refresh my memory and understanding of the legal position regarding EU citizens travelling or resident in the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally the UK\u2019s position on extradition (as was once common internationally) was based on two essential principles. One was the existence of an extradition treaty with the country concerned, which entailed mutual respect for legal systems. For example, the lack of such a treaty with Spain (due to political embarrassment over the presence of numerous anti-Franco exiles, including terrorists, in the UK) meant that Spain became notorious for decades as a refuge for British criminals \u2013 i.e. non-political criminals such as bank robbers.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Despite Brexit, French prosecutors seem able to demand extradition from the UK of a man who has committed no crime under UK law.<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Once such a treaty was in place, the essential principle was \u2018dual criminality\u2019, i.e. that the offence of which the requested fugitive was charged should also be an offence in the country from which extradition was sought. Naturally the criminal laws involved would rarely be identical, and it was up to the courts to resolve whether \u2018dual criminality\u2019 applied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a case such as that of Vincent Reynouard, this would once have presented a problem for the authorities. It would have been necessary to prove not only that he had committed ‘Holocaust denial’ (not in itself of course an offence in the UK), but that he had done so in a manner which also contravened some UK law (such as the laws against \u201cinciting racial hatred\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As readers can easily imagine, the \u201cdual criminality\u201d requirement allowed legal loopholes to be exploited in any number of criminal cases, especially those which involved wealthy crooks, or IRA terrorists who had a well-funded support network, and whose extradition from European countries (or the USA) to the UK was occasionally blocked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So even setting aside our enemies\u2019 broader political agenda, there were (from the general public’s viewpoint) apparent practical advantages to the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) system, which after long discussion replaced the traditional extradition laws, and took effect in the UK on 1st January 2004.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the EAW there was a fundamental assumption that all legal systems within the EU could trust each other to respect natural justice, etc.; and there was no need to establish \u201cdual criminality\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In place of the latter principle, the EAW established a list of \u201cframework offences\u201d. Once it could be shown that a fugitive was accused of anything that fell within these quite broadly defined \u201cframework offences\u201d, he would be extradited very swiftly in what amounted to a \u201crubber-stamp\u201d procedure even though it formally took place in court. There was no provision in most cases for the courts to investigate the full circumstances of the alleged ‘crime’ before extradition under an EAW.<\/p>\n\n\n

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This is Baroness Scotland, the ‘British’ government minister who gave Parliament an assurance that the European Arrest Warrant would not be used as a back-door criminalisation of ‘Holocaust denial’. If Vincent Reynouard is extradited, it will be clear evidence that she lied to Parliament.<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

One of the framework offences was \u201cracism and xenophobia\u201d. However, so far as ‘Holocaust denial’ was concerned, there remained a potential loophole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This loophole only existed because of objections that were raised in the House of Lords during passage of the legislation that wrote the EAW system into UK law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under repeated cross-examination by peers, the Home Office minister in the Lords (Baroness Scotland) gave a specific assurance that the EAW would not amount to a back door criminalisation of Holocaust denial in the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The position was to be as follows. If any element of the \u2018offence\u2019 of ‘Holocaust denial’ had taken place in the UK, it would be deemed to fall under UK law and therefore (unless it could be shown that it also involved other existing crimes under UK law) extradition would not take place.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A \u2018Holocaust denier\u2019 would only be extradited under a European Arrest Warrant if it could be shown by the requesting country\u2019s authorities that the \u2018crime\u2019 had been committed purely and simply within the jurisdiction of the country concerned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The specific example given to Parliament was of someone who had made a speech in Cologne market place denying the \u2018Holocaust\u2019, and had then escaped to the UK before being apprehended. In such a case (provided other boxes were ticked, such as the offence potentially attracting a prison sentence of more than 12 months) the requested person would be extradited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, if someone had produced a magazine, or a book, or a website, or an online video, etc., \u2018denying the Holocaust\u2019, then such a person would not be extradited. Even though part of the \u2018offence\u2019 might have been committed in France, Germany or wherever, part of it would also have been committed in the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The minister\u2019s precise words to Parliament included the following assurance:
\u201cHolocaust denial \u2026is a very particular offence. We would say that those engaging in that endeavour in part in this country would not be capable of being extradited as the offence would in part have allegedly been committed in this country, and in this country it is not an offence. So we would not extradite those involved in it.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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Dr Fredrick T\u00f6ben, whose London lawyers defeated an extradition attempt by German prosecutors in 2008.<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Such was the difficulty for the German authorities in the T\u00f6ben case. They issued a European Arrest Warrant, and T\u00f6ben was arrested while merely passing through London\u2019s Heathrow Airport on 1st October 2008. He was jailed pending extradition, which at first was expected to be a \u2018rubber-stamp\u2019 process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, on closer examination (once T\u00f6ben was represented by extradition specialist Kevin Lowry-Mullins rather than by a duty solicitor) it was found that the German request was insufficiently detailed. The reason for such vagueness was obvious: the authorities both in Berlin and London were well aware that T\u00f6ben\u2019s alleged criminal conduct did not fall within the very limited definition of \u2018Holocaust denial crimes\u2019 for which people could be extradited from the UK. To do so would be a flagrant betrayal of pledges to Parliament during passage of the EAW into UK law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consequently, the legal difficulty (and political embarrassment) was colossal. After the Westminster magistrate ruled against extradition, the British and German authorities swiftly dropped their appeal, resulting in T\u00f6ben\u2019s release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So the question in 2022 becomes whether the new arrangements that have replaced the EAW post-Brexit, in relation to extradition from or to the UK, are in any way similar in their application to Vincent\u2019s case.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Vincent Reynouard with two of his children: his case is a vital test of whether the UK still retains any respect for traditional liberties.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

These new laws were agreed as part of the \u2018Trade and Cooperation Agreement\u2019 between the UK and the EU which regulates the whole spectrum of such relations post-Brexit. It passed into UK law in the European Union (Future Relationship) Act 2020, which took effect at 11 pm on 31st December 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Broadly speaking this replicates the EAW, in that it is intended to fast-track extradition (in each direction) between the UK and EU countries, and is similar to the existing arrangements that the EU has with Norway and Iceland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specifically, there are very limited grounds on which it will be possible to argue that Vincent should not be extradited, and there is a presumption that the whole procedure should be completed swiftly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is potentially important that the new law \u2013 unlike the EAW system \u2013 does not specifically state that the UK and EU nations have \u201cmutual trust\u201d and \u201cmutual confidence\u201d in one other\u2019s legal systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover it is stated in the new law that any extradition should be \u201cproportionate\u201d and in particular should avoid long periods of pre-trial detention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One potential argument is that the French legal system is so heavily politicised in respect of thought-criminals (especially \u2018Holocaust deniers\u2019) that there are serious grounds for believing that Vincent Reynouard’s fundamental rights would be imperilled by extradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There will be extensive updates here at the Real History blog on the Vincent Reynouard case as it develops. And we shall very soon be reporting on a broader new initiative to advance revisionist scholarship with the aid of a new generation of European intellectual adventurers (to use Professor Robert Faurisson’s celebrated term).<\/p>\n\n\n

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The front page of Scotland’s oldest newspaper (now owned by Americans) led with the Reynouard story on Tuesday 15th November. Contrary to the headline, there is no “anti-nazi law”: the French authorities are seeking Vincent Reynouard’s extradition under a law banning critical enquiry into ‘Holocaust’ history. No such law exists in the UK and it is shameful that Police Scotland collaborated in this arrest.<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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The leading French nationalist journal Rivarol also has Vincent Reynouard’s arrest as its front page lead story, though unlike the Glasgow Herald, Rivarol defends traditional European freedoms.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

French revisionist scholar Vincent Reynouard was arrested in Scotland on Thursday 10th November. He is presently in an Edinburgh prison cell, where he will remain until 23rd February next year, when a court will determine whether he should be extradited to France, where he would be jailed under that country’s laws restricting historical and scientificContinue reading “French scholar Vincent Reynouard arrested in Scotland”<\/span> <\/path><\/svg><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":670,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[134,11,12,131],"tags":[132,24,133],"class_list":["post-669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-france","category-historical-memory-laws","category-robert-faurisson","category-vincent-reynouard","tag-extradition","tag-gas-chambers","tag-oradour"],"yoast_head":"\nFrench scholar Vincent Reynouard arrested in Scotland - Real History<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n