OTTAWA IS BEING URGED TO COME TO THE AID OF A CALGARY WOMAN ON TRIAL IN GERMANY FOR DENYING THE HOLOCAUST. MONIKA SCHAEFER IS ACCUSED OF POSTING A VIDEO TITLED ‘SORRY MOM, I WAS WRONG ABOUT THE HOLOCAUST.’
Canadian woman on trial in Germany
OTTAWA • A civil liberties group is urging the Canadian government to end the “unjust and immoral” imprisonment of Monika Schaefer, a German-Canadian woman on trial in Germany for publishing videos denying the Holocaust.
The Ontario Civil Liberties Association says it’s concerned about Canada’s apparent unwillingness to come to the aid of Schaefer, who it describes as a Canadian “political prisoner” who was charged with a German criminal law that does not exist in Canada and is contrary to international law.
In a letter signed by executive director Joseph Hickey, the association calls on Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould and Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland to act immediately, starting with appointing a consular observer and direct contact for Schaefer.
“We ask you both to do everything you can to save Monika Schaefer from her ongoing unjust and immoral imprisonment in Germany,” the letter says. “Every day that Canada refuses to act or acts ineffectively is a day that Ms. Schaefer spends in a foreign jail. Therefore, we express the required urgency.”
Schaefer ran for the Green party three times in Alberta’s Yellowhead riding before the party rejected her candidacy in 2015. The next year, she appeared in a YouTube video denying the Holocaust, which prompted the party to publicly condemn her views.
The Munich public prosecutor’s office says Schaefer was in Germany visiting family members when she was arrested in January. She was charged with six counts of “incitement of the people” for publishing videos denying the Holocaust.
Schaefer has been in custody since her arrest and her trial is set to continue until Aug. 17, the office says, adding the maximum penalty for each count is three years’ imprisonment.
The civil liberties association says Germany’s law against Holocaust denial is contrary to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which was ratified by Canada in 1976.
The civil liberties group says in the letter that the 2016 video was made in Canada and published from Canada.
However, Michael Mostyn, B’nai Brith Canada CEO, says the video was produced at the home of Schaefer’s brother, Alfred Schaefer, in Germany and was first uploaded to the internet by him.