UK historian to face Austrian Holocaust trial

VIENNA - An Austrian court will begin the trial of British historian David Irving in February on charges of denying the Holocaust, a court spokesman said.

Irving was arrested in the southern province of Styria last month under a warrant issued in 1989 and has since been remanded in custody and charged with denying the Holocaust, a crime in Austria which carries a sentence of one to 10 years in prison.

"Irving's trial will take place on February 20 and 21 from 9am to 4pm," said a spokesman for the Vienna regional court. "I can't say any more on that now," he added.

Irving's website (see link below) said he had been invited by students to address a university association in Austria. In a message dated November 11, it said he was on a one-day visit to the Austrian capital.

When driving to the meeting in Vienna, students noticed plainclothes detectives waiting for him, Irving told Austrian weekly magazine News last month. He changed plans and drove to Graz in the southern province of Styria to visit one of his publishers. Police stopped him on the motorway and detained him.

- REUTERS