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Spain's Vox picks homophobic Holocaust denier as electoral candidate

The Local Spain
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Spain's Vox picks homophobic Holocaust denier as electoral candidate
Photo: AFP

Spain’s far-right Vox party in Spain has picked a Holocaust denier to head the electoral list for Albacete in the next general election.

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Fernando Paz, dubbed a pseudo-historian by El Pais, has publicly stated that facts concerning the Holocaust are “far from having been established with accuracy” and called the Nuremberg Trials of Nazi war criminals a “farce.”

"Although it is undeniable that there were organized killings of Jews, “ he said at a 2016 talk at Spain's Falange party headquarters- “What really happened is far from having been established with precision.”

He went on to insist that most Jewish people during the Second World War were murdered by local populations in Eastern Europe, although some were also killed “by German troops for military and ideological reasons.”

And denied the existence of gas chambers, claiming that instead, evidence points to the majority of Jews being killed by gunfire.

On Wednesday, the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain condemned the Paz nomination.

“In any European country where justice was served in connection with this traumatic episode of history, it is unthinkable that such a person with such views would present himself for pubic office,” the federation’s statement read.

Paz has also denied the account of the bombing of Gernika – the 1937 air attack on a small Basque town during market day that was immortalised in Picasso’s famous painting. Instead he insisted during a televised debate with Pablo Iglesias in 2013, that it was “a myth crafted in England by The Times to justify the British rearmament program.”

Removing any doubts that the party does not veer to the extreme right, the latest candidate to be announced has also openly expressed homophobic views.

El Pais reported that in 2013 during an interview on El Gato al Agua show on Intereconomía TV he said:   “If my son told me he was gay, I would try to help him. There are therapies to treat this psychology.” he said. 

This week the party leader, Santiago Abascal called for Spain to loosen its gun laws to allow people to keep arms in the home and defend themselves against attackers.

READ MORE: Far-right Vox party wants to loosen Spain's gun laws

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