German Holocaust denier gets 5 years

MANNHEIM, Germany, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- A German neo-Nazi who wrote an admiring book about Adolf Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison Thursday for Holocaust denial.

The sentence was the maximum possible, Deutsche Welle reported.

In a statement to the court, Ernst Zundel said the judges should create an international commission to determine whether millions of Jews were actually massacred during World War II. He said if the commission found that they were, he would apologize for his views.

Zundel is the author of "The Hitler We Loved and Why" and maintains an anti-Semitic Web site. He was extradited from Canada in 2005.

One of Zundel's lawyers was dismissed during the trial for suggesting in court that the Holocaust did not happen.