Far-right Baudet under fire over Nuremberg tribunal statement

FvD leader Thierry Baudet was criticized on social media for a statement he made apparently disputing the legitimacy of the historic trial of Nazi leaders in Nuremberg after the Second World War. He made this statement in answer to a question at an election event in Gouda, NOS reports.

An attendee of the event asked whether politicians should be tried before "some kind of tribunal" for the lockdown measures they took against the coronavirus. Baudet replied that he is not in favor of retroactive criminal law. "I also consider the Nuremberg Tribunal illegal," he said. "You shouldn't try people retroactively. What you just have to do is vote this regime out democratically. We have to do that, then they can apply for benefits because we will abolish the redundancy pay."

On Twitter many called this statement wrong and insensitive. The information and documentation center on Israel CIDI, an organization that stands up for the interests of Jewish people, tweeted that it is shocked. "Calling the Nuremberg Trials illegal automatically legitimizes the extremism that was on trial there," the center said.

Baudet also responded on Twitter to the commotion. He said he just wanted to point out that you should not convict people with laws written after the fact, and gave the example to reflect the legal basis of the Nuremberg Tribunal. "This is called the legality principle and it forms the basis of a constitutional state," Baudet tweeted. "Murder is and always has been illegal. The indescribable genocidal crimes committed by the Germans could and should have been punished under regular national law."