Midlands YouTuber Alison Chabloz becomes first UK conviction over Holocaust denial

February 15, 2019 in News, Video by RBN

Ms Chabloz, from Glossop in Derbyshire, was sentenced to 20 weeks imprisonment suspended for two years
WHAT HAPPENS AFTER A CRIME IS REPORTED?

A blogger who wrote and performed anti-Semitic songs mocking the Holocaust has had her conviction upheld.

Alison Chabloz, 55, was found guilty last May of three charges relating to three self-penned songs at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.

But she fought her conviction for posting “grossly offensive” material.

Today, Judge Christopher Hehir, assisted by a lay magistrate, upheld the conviction.

District judge John Zani had said he was satisfied the material was grossly offensive and that Chabloz had intended to insult Jewish people.

Ms Chabloz, from Glossop in Derbyshire, was sentenced to 20 weeks imprisonment suspended for two years; banned from posting on social media for one year and ordered to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work last year.

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Adrian Davies, defending, previously told the district judge that his ruling would be a landmark one, setting a precedent on the exercise of free speech.

At Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday, Mr Davies told judge Christopher Hehir: “It would be a very, very strong thing to say that a criminal penalty should be imposed on someone for singing in polemical terms about matters on which she feels so strongly – especially given the very limited nature of the subject matter of the charges against her.

“I would simply ask the court to find that however offensive her lyrics might have been to some, they do not cross the line to the grossly offensive and she ought on that account to be acquitted.”

Judge Hehir said he aimed to give his judgment by the end of the day but “it may well be that matters ventilated before this court are ventilated in a higher court”.

Tunes uploaded to YouTube included one defining Nazi death camp Auschwitz as “a theme park” and the gas chambers a “proven hoax”.

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The singer has previously defended her work as “satire”, saying many Jewish people find the songs funny.

Other lyrics, some partly set to traditional Jewish folk music, included: “Did the Holocaust ever happen? Was it just a bunch of lies?

“Seems that some intend to pull the wool over our eyes.”

 

Chabloz, of Charlesworth, Glossop, Derbyshire, was convicted of two counts of causing an offensive, indecent or menacing message to be sent over a public communications network after performing two songs at a London Forum event in 2016.

She was also convicted over another charge relating to a third song.