A French Holocaust denier arrested in Scotland after two years on the run has been remanded in prison following an extradition hearing.
Vincent Reynouard was arrested in Fife last Thursday after fleeing authorities across the channel in the wake of being convicted under French anti-Nazi laws.
Reynouard had been given a four-month jail term in November 2020 and a further six-month spell last January.
The 53-year-old appeared via video link at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Thursday for a preliminary extradition hearing and only spoke to confirm his name.
Defence agent Andrew Docherty said he’d consulted with Reynouard that morning and was now withdrawing from acting for the accused.
Mr Docherty said Reynouard wished to instruct his own solicitor and had identified an agent to represent him.
He added legal aid was in place for Reynouard who was not applying for bail.
Mr Docherty asked for the next hearing to be postponed to allow more time for the case to be prepared.
Fiscal depute Jennifer Johnston said the Crown had “no issue” with new court dates being fixed.
Sheriff Norman McFadyen ordered a full extradition hearing to be held on February 23, with a preliminary hearing on December 8.
The sheriff remanded Reynouard in custody. The accused is being held at Saughton Prison in Edinburgh.
The French press claimed he had been working as a private tutor while living under a false identity while in the UK.
Holocaust denial has been a criminal offence in France since 1990, and Reynouard has been convicted on numerous occasions. His conviction was in relation to a series of antisemitic posts on social media.
Police Scotland previously confirmed a 53-year-old man was arrested on behalf of the French authorities last week. “He was arrested at an address in the Anstruther area of Fife on a Trade and Co-operation Agreement warrant issued in France,” the spokesman said.
General Jean-Philippe Reiland of the OCLCH, the arm of the French gendarmerie that specialises in hate crime and war crimes, said: “Vincent Reynouard was able to be arrested thanks to a huge effort of international co-operation and, in particular, thanks to our British counterparts.
“Despite the legal difficulties that may exist, the Office (OCLCH) will not let go of the ideologues who propagate hatred, wherever they are.”
The Campaign Against Antisemitism has welcomed the arrest and described Reynouard as a “despicable Holocaust denier who has repeatedly been convicted by French courts”.
The charity said his first Holocaust denial conviction was in 1991 for distributing leaflets denying the existence of gas chambers at concentration camps.
A Campaign Against Antisemitism spokesman said previously: “For him to have evaded justice, only to settle in the UK as a private tutor teaching children, is intolerable, which is why we worked with French Jewish organisations to secure his extradition so that he faces the consequences of his abhorrent incitement.”
