BERLIN, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- Ursula Haverbeck, better known as the "Nazi grandma" has been sentenced to six months in prison by a Berlin district court, German media reported on Tuesday.
Haverbeck was filmed at an event in January 2016, saying the murder of 6 million Jews during the holocaust never occurred and that the gas chambers on display in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp were "fake." Denying the holocaust is punishable under the German law as a form of hate speech.
Haverbeck rejected the accusations and insisted that she had merely been quoting from a book she was presenting at the event. Nevertheless, the 88-year-old reiterated her belief in front of the press during a break in court proceedings that the murder of Jews in gas chambers "did not occur in Auschwitz."
The defendant's attorney further referred to his client's right to freedom of expression.
Haverbeck has gained notoriety as Germany's "Nazi grandma" due to her membership of right-wing extremist circles and her repeated public denials of the holocaust. In a similar case, Haverbeck was sentenced to two years in jail in Lower Saxony in August 2017.
Appearing on television, the "Nazi grandma" declared that the "holocaust is the biggest and most sustainable lie in history."
The Berlin district court criticized Haverbeck's intransigence, noting that she was fully aware of the legal consequences of her actions.
Haverbeck has launched an immediate appeal against her sentencing. The verdict is no yet legally binding.
