Roland Henri Theofiel (Roeland) Raes (born 4 September 1934) is a Belgian politician, a former senator for and vice president of the political party

Vlaams Blok ''Vlaams Blok'' ( en, Flemish Block, or VB) was the name of a Belgian far-right and secessionist political party with an anti-immigration platform.Erk, 2005, pp. 493-502. Its ideologies embraced Flemish nationalism, calling for the independen ...

. Raes took a dr. iur. ( J.D.) at

Ghent University Ghent University ( nl, Universiteit Gent, abbreviated as UGent) is a public research university located in Ghent, Belgium. Established before the state of Belgium itself, the university was founded by the Dutch King William I in 1817, when th ...

. He became politically active in 1955, when he became a member of the

Volksunie People's Union ( nl, Volksunie, VU) was a Flemish nationalist political party in Belgium, formed in 1954 as a successor to the Christian Flemish People's Union. The Volksunie defined itself as a big tent and catch-all party that combined suppor ...

. He was senator for Vlaams Blok from 1995 until 2002. At the moment he is

Vlaams Belang , ideology = , predecessor = Vlaams Blok , position = , europarl = Identity and Democracy , european = Identity and Democracy Party , youth_wing = Vlaams Belang Jongeren , colours = ...

chapter leader of Lovendegem, member of the Vlaams Belang party board of the

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

Gent-Eeklo and (as a former senator) member of the national party council of the

Vlaams Belang , ideology = , predecessor = Vlaams Blok , position = , europarl = Identity and Democracy , european = Identity and Democracy Party , youth_wing = Vlaams Belang Jongeren , colours = ...

. He works at the party headquarters in Brussels as an archivarian. Raes was convicted for

Holocaust denial Holocaust denial is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that falsely asserts that the Nazi genocide of Jews, known as the Holocaust, is a myth, fabrication, or exaggeration. Holocaust deniers make one or more of the following false statements: ...

.Oud-senator Roeland Raes schuldig aan negationisme'' (Former Senator Roeland Raes guilty of negationism)''
De Standaard, 15 September 2010. Critics accuse him of being an antisemite. He is a prominent member of

Voorpost Voorpost (" outpost, picket") is an ethno-nationalist ('' volksnationalist'') group founded in Flanders, Belgium by Karel Dillen in 1976 as a splinter from the Volksunie. Voorpost pursues the irredentist ideal of a Greater Netherlands, a nation s ...

. He is a pagan and has written for pagan publications such as the magazine '' TeKoS'' and Guy de Martelaere's newsletter ''Gwenved''.

Holocaust denial trial

Roeland Raes stepped down as senator and party vice president after accusations of

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

sympathies. He was charged with

in accordance with the Belgian Holocaust denial law after saying on Dutch television: "I doubt the systematism of the extermination of the Jews and I also doubt the number of deaths, ..and also whether camps such as Auschwitz were all meant to be extermination camps" During the interview, Raes however had no doubts about the systematic persecution and deportation of Jews by the Nazis. The original complaint goes back to 2001. Meanwhile, the mother video tape with the full interview, which could have shed light on the context, got lost, so the evidence that can be used in the trial is limited to the parts of the interview that have been broadcast. Early 2006, at the Public Prosecutor's request and after a hearing in chambers, the charges were dropped, but after an appeal by the Forum of Jewish Organisations, the case was resumed. In December 2008, he was given a suspended sentence of 4 months imprisonment. The Forum of Jewish Organisations and the

Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism Unia or the Interfederal Center for Equal Opportunities (Dutch language, Dutch: , French language, French: :fr:Unia_(institution), Unia (institution) ''Centre pour l'égalité des chances et la lutte contre le racisme'' ) is an independent public ...

received 1,000 EUR damages.'Veroordeling Raes krachtig signaal' ''(Conviction Raes powerful signal)''
De Standaard, 12 December 2008. The

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

court of appeal on 15 September 2010 confirmed Raes was guilty of negationism, and awarded 1,800 EUR damages to each organisation. He did not receive a sentence, because the court decided the case had taken unreasonably long.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raes, Roeland 1934 births Living people Vlaams Belang politicians 21st-century Belgian politicians 21st-century Belgian criminals Belgian Holocaust deniers People convicted of Holocaust denial Belgian modern pagans