D.I. v. Germany, dec., No. 26551/95, ECommHR, 26 June 1996

Denial of the existence of gas chambers. Lawful interference with freedom of expression.

Art. 10 ECHR

Statements that run counter the basic ideas of the Convention – notably justice and peace – and further reflect racial and religious discrimination do not enjoy the protection of Art. 10 ECHR.

(In the instant case, the applicant, a historian by profession, was convicted of insulting and blackening the memory of the deceased for having denied the existence of gas chambers at the Auschwitz concentration camp. He complains of a violation of Art. 10 ECHR. The Commission found that the interference in his right to freedom of expression was “necessary in a democratic society” within the meaning of Art. 10, para. 2 ECHR and declared the application inadmissible as manifestly ill-founded).