- Published 13:08 12.04.11
- Latest update 13:08 12.04.11
Austria arrests two suspects allegedly involved in neo-Nazi website
One of the suspects is Gottfried Kuessel, a leading Austrian neo-Nazi figure; the website in question has been shut down with the help of U.S. authorities; Austrian law bans the glorification of the Nazi era and attempts to diminish, deny or justify the Holocaust.
By News AgenciesAustrian authorities have arrested two people suspected of involvement in a neo-Nazi website.
The Vienna public prosecutor's office said Tuesday the arrests came Monday night after a total of six house searches in the Austrian capital and in the southern region of Styria.
Spokesman Thomas Vecsey confirmed to the Austria Press Agency that one of the arrested is Gottfried Kuessel, a leading Austrian neo-Nazi figure who was convicted in the 1990s of trying to form a successor to the Nazi party.
The website in question was recently shut down with help from U.S. authorities.
Last week a Holocaust survivors' group revealed that an Austrian pastry maker was baking cakes with elaborate Nazi designs.
According to the Mauthausen Committee, the bakery, located in the village of Maria Enzersdorf near Vienna, offers cakes adorned with a sugary swastika or with a baby raising its right hand in a Nazi salute, pictures in his catalogue show.
Pastry chef Manfred Klaschka has since apologized, telling the Kurier newspaper Thursday it was a mistake to make the cakes and that he has nothing to do with Hitler.
He added he's absolutely not a racist and is currently working on a cake for Turkish clients.
Pastry chef Manfred Klaschka initially told broadcaster ORF at his cafe that "if someone orders it, I make it", however, had a change of heart, perhaps in light of the looming criminal investigation against him.
The group pressed charges against Klaschka last week on suspicion that the chef violated laws that ban neo-Nazi activities and the display of Nazi symbols.
Austrian law bans the glorification of the Nazi era and attempts to diminish, deny or justify the Holocaust.
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