An Austrian court has convicted a well-known member of the far-right to nine years in prison for propagating Nazi ideology online, in violation of the country's strict anti-Nazi laws.
Gottfried Kuessel, who had been arrested in April 2011, was sentenced late Thursday in Vienna. Two convicted accomplices were given lesser sentences - seven years and four-and-a-half years.
Prosecutors said Kuessel was the leader of the now-banned neo-Nazi group, VAPO (Extra-parliamentary Opposition Faithful to the Nation).
Kuessel posted his material on the neo-Nazi website alpen-donau.info, which was shut down in March 2011. The servers for the site were based in the United States, so Austrian authorities had to get American cooperation.
Kuessel spent time in prison in the 1990s for disseminating Nazi propaganda. He has denied the Holocaust and denounced the diary of Anne Frank as a fabrication.
Gottfried Kuessel, who had been arrested in April 2011, was sentenced late Thursday in Vienna. Two convicted accomplices were given lesser sentences - seven years and four-and-a-half years.
Prosecutors said Kuessel was the leader of the now-banned neo-Nazi group, VAPO (Extra-parliamentary Opposition Faithful to the Nation).
Kuessel posted his material on the neo-Nazi website alpen-donau.info, which was shut down in March 2011. The servers for the site were based in the United States, so Austrian authorities had to get American cooperation.
Kuessel spent time in prison in the 1990s for disseminating Nazi propaganda. He has denied the Holocaust and denounced the diary of Anne Frank as a fabrication.
