Former KKK leader (David Duke) arrested in Prague

[dodo1]

Regardless of whether you agree or disagree, restricting someone's OPINION is ridiculous. That's like being imprisoned because you don't believe in the tooth fairy...

Are you serious? It is a fact that the holocaust happened, and that thousands of Jews were murdered. Denying the holocaust has nothing to do with a person's "opinion" but with saying "now that it's over I don't want to have anything to do with it"!

By the way, I really do not understand how somebody can actually deny the holocaust. After all, it's history, it's a fact... There is no doubt what happened in those days. We all know it, and so do those who continue to deny it. But those people are too weak and dastard to confess.

[Gerry]

And FYI I am a Czech...

Buy my Juzek violins. I have 3 of them, all Prague circa 1920

[katherine]

They should have arrested bush instead

Defenestration is a nice Prague habit too

[thevirtual]

Are you serious? It is a fact that the holocaust happened, and that thousands of Jews were murdered. Denying the holocaust has nothing to do with a person's "opinion" but with saying "now that it's over I don't want to have anything to do with it"!

By the way, I really do not understand how somebody can actually deny the holocaust. After all, it's history, it's a fact... There is no doubt what happened in those days. We all know it, and so do those who continue to deny it. But those people are too weak and dastard to confess.

Not only Jews were murdered in the Holocaust.

Just because something is in the history books doesn't mean it is true.

Noone has to "confess" about the Holocaust other than the people behind it.

[Seraphim]

Some lessons it seems Europe will never learn. When you academically discredit people like Duke, you stop them dead in their tracks. When that fails you deport them with a stamp in their passport that reads "Persona non grata". Throw the guy in prison and he becomes a martyr for his cause.

Should Duke be sentenced to prison, the Czech Republic will suffer severe damage to it's international reputation, and the effects will likely be long term. Duke punishes himself left to lecture the world, I say let him continue to do so. No person of sound mind buys into his warped ideology.

I have lived in Poland for 10 years. I have acquaintances who are missing limbs from being beaten so severely in communist prisons for things they "said". Europe cannot seem to shake off this legacy. I'm reminded of why the United States was founded, in part to escape the old ways of the Old World. I'm truly thankful for freedom of speech in my own country. If I walked up to a Native American in Oregon to dispute history, I wouldn't end up in prison, I would walk away with a broken jaw... the way it should be in a free society.

It's time Europe learned the difference between justice and retribution, with the exception being the UK who does seem to respect freedom of thought and speech to a much greater degree.

[katherine]

Some lessons it seems Europe will never learn.

Europe never learns. That's why the populist/extremist parties are thriving in some many parts of Europe

[draggar]

I knew a WWII vet (now deceased) who told me a story years ago I never forgot.
He was in a platoon that liberated one of the concentration camps. Guys in his group started dropping to the ground the closer they came to the camp. They first thought it was a sniper w/a high powered rifle picking them off and everyone ducked. It turned out to be the stench of dying & dead bodies inside the gates that caused the men to pass-out.

He was of the nicest guys I ever met...had no reason to make it up.

The same with my wife's grandfather - almost word for word. He also said almost no one in his platoon ate for several days - they kept giving their rations to the people in the camps.

[Gerry]

My brother-in-law's grandfather as well. He died several years back.

My brother in law showed me a cache of stuff he inherited from Granddad. Knowing that I was big into antiques, he wanted to get an idea of the value. Bud (a made up name for my brother-in-law) had no idea his grandfather had this stuff.

The whole family history was a mess.

Bud and his little brother was told their mother was had died in a vehicle accident. Come to find out she is not. She is alive and living in Germany.

Bud's father had been in the Army and stationed in Germany. Bud's father had gotten a German girl pregnant. He married her.

When Bud's grandfather found out, he disowned his son. The girl was pregant with Bud.

Bud's father stayed married to her for several years and fathered another child. Along about about the time Bud was 4 years old and Bud's little brother was 1, Bud's father and mother split up.

Bud and his little brother were brought up pretty decently by the father. A couple of failed marriages here in the states but the kids fared well. Bud and his granddad became very, very close, although Bud's father and grandfather would not even speak to each other.

When his grandfather died about 10 years or so ago, Bud's father told them a story.

Bud's grandfather served in the Army in WWII during the final days of the Nazi empire. Granddad was picking up alot of great mommentos from the march across europe towards Berlin - flags, medal, knives, pistols, cigarette cases; all kinds of fancy stuff from either dead or captured Nazis.

Bud's father told him and their brother that the reason his granddad disowned him (Bud's father) when he told them he had gotten married to a German girl is because Bud's grandfather had been the first American troops to arrive at a couple of concentration camps. It was after seeing these people that were shells of humans that Bud's grandfather developed a hatred for those that did these horrific deeds. That hatred went with him always and that is why his grandfather disowned his own son - Bud's father.

It was also during this time that Bud's father told Bud and Bud's brother that their mother was still alive and that the boys also had a baby sister. And that his mother and sister were on their way across the Atlantic.

I had the pleasure of meeting his mother and sister during a big impromptu extended family reunion. His mother spoke English with a very heavy and authoritative accent and his sister (who was gorgeous) spoke very good english with a slight accent.

My sister and Bud and the kids have been to Germany a couple of times.

The point is - this is about the deep rooted hatred towards those that committed these crimes against humanity. And this hatred, I am afraid, may last awhile but those that were eyewitness to one of the most horrified events are slowly dying out.

Some people will never forget and will never forgive.

[Seraphim]

I have enough faith and confidence in contemporary free societies to put people like David Duke in their rightful place, and without encroaching upon basic civil liberties. I'm happy to hear he was banished from the country, instead of imprisoned. The rest of Europe should take note on how it's properly done... After all, why let this sack of sh!t ruin it for everyone else, he's not worth it.

[jasdon11]

Some lessons it seems Europe will never learn. When you academically discredit people like Duke, you stop them dead in their tracks. When that fails you deport them with a stamp in their passport that reads "Persona non grata". Throw the guy in prison and he becomes a martyr for his cause.

Should Duke be sentenced to prison, the Czech Republic will suffer severe damage to it's international reputation, and the effects will likely be long term. Duke punishes himself left to lecture the world, I say let him continue to do so. No person of sound mind buys into his warped ideology.

I have lived in Poland for 10 years. I have acquaintances who are missing limbs from being beaten so severely in communist prisons for things they "said". Europe cannot seem to shake off this legacy. I'm reminded of why the United States was founded, in part to escape the old ways of the Old World. I'm truly thankful for freedom of speech in my own country. If I walked up to a Native American in Oregon to dispute history, I wouldn't end up in prison, I would walk away with a broken jaw... the way it should be in a free society.

It's time Europe learned the difference between justice and retribution, with the exception being the UK who does seem to respect freedom of thought and speech to a much greater degree.

Trouble is, things have tipped the other way - anyone can come to the UK and say whatever they like about the regime, the people, whatever; but if a UK national says anything about a foreign regime, religion, race etc, we could be imprisoned for anything from race-hate to inciting terrorism.

[HomerJ]

As a matter of fact, if you read the story carefully, you'll see that Duke was 'detained' on suspicion of denying the holocaust

Former Klan leader David Duke has been detained by police in the Czech Republic on suspicion of denying the Holocaust.

it doesnt say he actually did deny it (while in Czech). otherwise they may have indeed arrested him.

Regardless, while I'm certainly no fan of David Duke, I see no difference between this law against denying the holocaust and a thought crime. Maybe it should be a law here in the US in case anyone dares to question whether Bin Laden was the real mastermind behind 911 - 'Bin Laden denial' ...

the point being you cant deny people the basic right to be inquisitive. Personally I question anyone authority that tries to force me to believe in something, no matter what it is. ... raises a bit of a red flag, no?

[mulligan]

Deniers are losers, and they should be persecuted to the fullest extent of the law!

So one good persecution deserves another .. The persecuted become the persecutor become the persecuted become the persecutor ad infinitum ..

Yes, I know you meant prosecuted but I couldn't resist...

How would someone like if i.e. someone would write some article about China/Tibet etc., then went to CHina and he would be arrested in China and sent to jail ? Every "human rights" idiots would scream

And for some reason you think this hasn't already happened?
http://www.wan-press.org/IMG/pdf/China.pdf

Wonder where the 'human rights' idiots were? Laryngitis perhaps?

[Gerry]

Wonder where the 'human rights' idiots were? Laryngitis perhaps?

Hmm...how can we forget about Yahoo turning over documents and records on the Chinese blogger.

Sacrificing integrity for the purpose of being allowed to operate in China under a restrictive regime.

I wonder how the payout has been for Yahoo and Google. Have they really made that much money from being allowed to do business behind the great wall?

I seriously doubt that the expense to operate has been worth it. Google is still a very, very distant speck to Baidu's reach.

[denny007]

And for some reason you think this hasn't already happened?
http://www.wan-press.org/IMG/pdf/China.pdf

Bzzzzz - WRONG
Those are all JOURNALISTS which were WORKING (writing) IN CHINA against Chinese law.

And I wonder why are you arguing when Czech's had to let go Duke because his arrest was INDEED wrong and against international law ?

[HarveyJ]

Freedom of Speech is something you guys seem to think exists all over the world.
Someone else already said it: Don't go to another country where something is a crime with the intent to commit that act, because regardless of it being legal in your own country, it's not where you're going.
i.e. I wouldn't go to Singapore and then expect to be able to chew gum on the train. Apparently, that's illegal there (or was), even though my local trains are generally covered in gum by about 4:30pm when the school kids get off, and I am more than free to contribute to the gelatinous mass slowly growing at the back of the carriage.

As a matter of fact, if you read the story carefully, you'll see that Duke was 'detained' on suspicion of denying the holocaust
.... raises a bit of a red flag, no?

No, it doesn't.
All arrests are on the suspicion of a crime, because until found guilty, you can't actually be said to have done it. That's slander, a crime in itself.
You are suspected, accused, tried, and then either you did or didn't do it.

[HomerJ]

No, it doesn't.

no, that doesnt raise a flag?

All arrests are on the suspicion of a crime, because until found guilty, you can't actually be said to have done it. That's slander, a crime in itself.
You are suspected, accused, tried, and then either you did or didn't do it.

okay, i'm not an expert in Czech law, but the story doesnt say 'arrested'. it says 'detained'. arrested would have implied being charged with something. detained just means they held him for questioning but had to let him go because there was nothing to charge him with.