BERLIN, Feb 25: A founding member of a left-wing terrorist group turned neo-Nazi was convicted on Wednesday in Munich of Holocaust denial and sentenced to six years in prison after a judge accused him of using the courtroom to spread his message of hate.

Horst Mahler — a founder of the Red Army Faction in 1970 — was convicted of incitement for posting videos denying the Holocaust on the Internet and distributing CDs promoting anti-Jewish hatred and violence. Denial of the Nazi Holocaust is a crime in Germany.

Mahler, who initiated the Munich state court case by filing a complaint against himself, was accused by Presiding Judge Martin Rieder as using the courtroom as a stage to promote his “nationalist croaking.”

Mahler used his right to make a closing statement at the trial to give an hour-long monologue, repeating his denial of the Holocaust and expressing his sympathy for Richard Williamson, the Roman Catholic bishop whose assertion that no Jews were gassed during the Holocaust embarrassed the Vatican.

“The rage of the people is at the boiling point,” he said in defence of Williamson, telling the judges: “Watch out that you don’t get scalded.”

Rieder sentenced Mahler to one year above the maximum recommended five years in prison, saying he is “completely unrepentant and totally unteachable.”

“It was as if these people have had to die again,” Rieder said. “Therefore, the Horst Mahler show has now ended.”—AP