Post by QPR Report on Mar 24, 2009 12:52:23 GMT
AP
German party leader on trial after defaming player
- The head of Germany's leading far-right party and two other key National Democratic Party members go on trial Tuesday, charged with racial incitement and defamation over a pamphlet circulated during the 2006 World Cup.
The charges are linked to a pamphlet which insinuated that Patrick Owomoyela - born of a German mother and a Nigerian father - was not worthy to play for Germany.
The flyers showed the German team's traditional white jersey imprinted with the No. 25 - worn at the time by Owomoyela - over the title: "White, not just a jersey color! For a real NATIONAL team!"
Prosecutors have charged National Democratic Party head Udo Voigt, party spokesman Klaus Beier and Frank Schwerdt, who heads the legal department of the party known by its German initials NPD, with two counts of racial incitement and one of defamation for printing and distributing the leaflets. If found guilty, the three could each face a fine or up to three years in prison.
Such a move could shake up top ranks of the NPD, which German security officials estimate has some 7,000 members. The party holds no seats in the German parliament, but has been represented in the state legislatures of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania since 2006 and Saxony since 2004.
Owomoyela, now 29, and the soccer federation filed a lawsuit against the party.
In a statement Monday, the federation said it was pressing charges to fight "the racist campaigns against players for the German national team."
At the time, the NPD called the charges "absurd" and "political," insisting the use of Owomoyela's No. 25 was "pure chance." Police confiscated 70,000 of the pamphlets during a search of the party's headquarters.
Owomoyela is a joint plaintiff in the case. He now plays for Borussia Dortmund and has not been selected by the national team for three years.
msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/9374630/German-party-leader-on-trial-after-defaming-player
German party leader on trial after defaming player
- The head of Germany's leading far-right party and two other key National Democratic Party members go on trial Tuesday, charged with racial incitement and defamation over a pamphlet circulated during the 2006 World Cup.
The charges are linked to a pamphlet which insinuated that Patrick Owomoyela - born of a German mother and a Nigerian father - was not worthy to play for Germany.
The flyers showed the German team's traditional white jersey imprinted with the No. 25 - worn at the time by Owomoyela - over the title: "White, not just a jersey color! For a real NATIONAL team!"
Prosecutors have charged National Democratic Party head Udo Voigt, party spokesman Klaus Beier and Frank Schwerdt, who heads the legal department of the party known by its German initials NPD, with two counts of racial incitement and one of defamation for printing and distributing the leaflets. If found guilty, the three could each face a fine or up to three years in prison.
Such a move could shake up top ranks of the NPD, which German security officials estimate has some 7,000 members. The party holds no seats in the German parliament, but has been represented in the state legislatures of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania since 2006 and Saxony since 2004.
Owomoyela, now 29, and the soccer federation filed a lawsuit against the party.
In a statement Monday, the federation said it was pressing charges to fight "the racist campaigns against players for the German national team."
At the time, the NPD called the charges "absurd" and "political," insisting the use of Owomoyela's No. 25 was "pure chance." Police confiscated 70,000 of the pamphlets during a search of the party's headquarters.
Owomoyela is a joint plaintiff in the case. He now plays for Borussia Dortmund and has not been selected by the national team for three years.
msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/9374630/German-party-leader-on-trial-after-defaming-player