Ernst Zündel was charged on
18 November 1983 under section 177 of the Criminal Code of Canada which
provides:
Every one who wilfully
publishes a statement, tale or news that he knows is false and that causes or
is likely to cause injury or mischief to a public interest is guilty of an
indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two
years.
The charge was originally
laid under a private complaint by Canadian Holocaust Remembrance Association
founder Sabina Citron. The carriage of the charge was later assumed by the
Crown, however, under an indictment dated 26 July 1984 which read as follows:
1. Ernst Zündel stands
charged that he, during the year 1981, at the Municipality of Metropolitan
Toronto in the Judicial District of York, did publish a statement or tale that
he knows is false, namely the article "The West, War, and Islam", and
the said article is likely to cause mischief to the public interest in social
and racial tolerance, contrary to the Criminal Code.
2. Ernst Zündel stands
further charged that he, in or about the year 1981, at the Municipality of
Metropolitan Toronto in the Judicial District of York, did publish a statement
or tale, namely "Did Six Million Really Die?" that he knows is false
and that is likely to cause mischief to the public interest in social and
racial tolerance, contrary to the Criminal Code.
On 28 February 1985, after
a thirty-nine day trial, Zündel was acquitted on the charge concerning The
West, War and Islam but convicted on the charge concerning Did Six Million
Really Die?. The conviction was overturned on appeal to the Ontario Court of
Appeal on 23 January 1987 and a new trial was ordered.
The second trial of Zündel,
which concerned only the booklet Did Six Million Really Die?, commenced on 18
January 1988. This book summarizes the evidence that was heard at the second
trial over a period of three months. The last witness appeared on 26 April
1988.
The case was heard before
District Court Judge Ron Thomas. Appearing for the Crown were attorneys John
Pearson and Catherine White. Acting for the accused, Ernst Zündel, was defence
attorney Douglas H. Christie.