Menzingen : On the subject of Bishop Williamson’s Trial
On November 20, 2010, the General Headquarters of the Society of Saint Pius X published the following communication concerning the Bishop Richard Williamson’s appeal to the court of Regensburg, which was to take place on November 29.
The Superior General, Bishop Bernard Fellay, has learnt by the press of Bishop Richard Williamson’s decision, just ten days before his trial, to dismiss the lawyer charged with his defense, in favor of a lawyer who is openly affiliated to the so-called neo-Nazi movement in Germany, and to other such groups.
Bishop Fellay has given Bishop Williamson a formal order to go back on this decision and to not allow himself to become an instrument of political theses that are completely foreign to his mission as a Catholic bishop serving the Society of Saint Pius X.
Disobedience to this order would result in Bishop Williamson being expelled from the Society of Saint Pius X.
Menzingen, November 20 of 2010.
Fr. Christian Thouvenot, general Secretary
On November 26, the AFP noted that it had questioned Fr. Andreas Steiner, Director of Communications of the German District of the Society of Saint Pius X, who reported that Bishop Williamson had refused to be defended by Wolfram Nahrath, Esq. The name of his new attorney has not yet been announced. Until now, the defense of Bishop Williamson asserts that his comments concerning the existence of gas chambers and the number of Jews killed in the concentration camps had been recorded in Germany, where they are punishable by judicial prosecution, but that they were supposed to be broadcast only in Sweden by the Swedish television network that conducted the interview. Bishop Williamson was sentenced by the lower court in Regensburg to a fine of 10,000 euros for “inciting racial hatred”. The appeal is expected to take place in February or March 2011. (Sources : AFP/private sources – DICI No. 226 dated 12/04/10)
