- MUNICH, Germany (AP) - A
Munich club owner was convicted of incitement to hate and anti-Semitism
Wednesday for canceling a pro-Israel fund-raiser that involved the granddaughter
of the late Israeli premier Yitzhak Rabin ( news - web sites). He was fined
and sentenced to six months' probation.
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- The trial of Rudolf Fischer, 52, by a Munich court followed
his refusal to allow the gathering for 400 guests at his Y Julieta club
in March 2001. Fischer said in court that he told the event organizers
he didn't want to host any political events.
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- The event was a fund-raiser for Keren Hayesod, a quasi-government
organization that raises money to promote Jewish immigration to Israel
and other Israeli causes.
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- But Claus Peter Zistl, an attorney for the organization,
testified Monday that Fischer told one of its members he had canceled the
event because "he wanted nothing to do" with Jews and would sooner
host a far-right political rally.
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- Fischer had helped "create the impression around
the world that Jewish guests here are again treated as they were in the
Third Reich," Judge Max Boxleitner said as he issued his ruling.
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- Boxleitner said he found the plaintiffs' testimony "extremely
credible," while he said defense witnesses backing Fischer's version
of his comments to the organizers were too far away to hear the exchange.
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- Fischer was fined $2,480.
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- Prosecution lawyers had demanded a nine-month suspended
sentence for Fischer, whose trial began Monday. The defense, which had
argued he should be acquitted, said it would appeal.
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- The fund-raiser was to have included Noa Ben-Artzi, whose
moving eulogy for her grandfather after Rabin's 1995 assassination captured
world attention.
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- Keren Hayesod, also known in English as the United Israel
Appeal, filed criminal complaints and held its event at another Munich
club, and the city's mayor issued an apology to Rabin's granddaughter.
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- City authorities said they would examine whether to withdraw
the Fischer's license for the club or issue him with a warning in the light
of the verdict.
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