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Old March 13th, 2008 #2
Jimmy Dean
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Default Second Trial For "Jews As Disease" Remark

Second Ahenakew trial set for November


By Betty Ann Adam,
TheStarPhoenix.com
March 10, 2008
David Ahenakew

David Ahenakew agreed to a November 24 start date for the retrial of his hate crime charge when he appeared in Saskatoon provincial court this morning, but he wasn't happy about it.

"Can't it be any sooner? It's been six years for me. It'll be 10 years before its finished," the former leader of the Assembly of First Nations said to Judge Robert Jackson.

Ahenakew asked if the trial could be held at a court house at his home reserve of Ahtahkakoop to speed the matter. Ahtakakoop is 150 kilometres north of Prince Albert.

Jackson said the November date was actually fairly soon considering the busy court schedule, and the location was not so much a factor in the timing as the availability of the court staff and lawyers.

Ahenakew, 74, was convicted in 2005 of inciting hatred in relation to anti-semitic comments he made in 2002 at a health conference sponsored by the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations and in a recorded interview with a StarPhoenix reporter.

Ahenakew referred to Jewish people as a disease trying to take over the world, blamed them for starting the Second World War and said Adolf Hitler was right when he "fried" six million Jews.

He was fined $1,000 and appealed the conviction. In 2006, the Court of Queen's Bench ordered a new trial, a decision that was upheld by the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal this January.

The new trial is set for November 24 to 28 at Court of Queen's Bench.

Ahenakew's lawyer, Doug Christie, was not present but had previously agreed to be available for the trial on those days, said Crown prosecutor Brent Klause.

Source:
http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarp...a03ad1&k=50428