27/02/2006

Livingstone lodges suspension appeal

London Mayor Ken Livingstone has lodged an appeal and requested that the implementation of his imminent four-week suspension be stayed until the appeal hearing takes place.

A tribunal found Mr Livingstone guilty of bringing his office into disrepute for comparing a Jewish journalist to a Nazi concentration camp guard and is due to be suspended for four weeks. The Adjudication Panel for England ruled that Mr Livingstone's remarks had been "unnecessarily insensitive" and "offensive" to London Evening Standard reporter Oliver Finegold.

Mr Livingstone made the remarks when Mr Finegold questioned him after leaving a reception at City Hall. The Mayor was recorded asking Mr Finegold if he had ever been a German war criminal. When he was told that Mr Finegold was Jewish and offended by the remark, Mr Livingstone responded by comparing him to a concentration camp guard.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews complained about the comments.

Mr Livingstone's legal team are seeking the appeal on the basis that the tribunal's decision is inconsistent with the European Convention on Human Rights relating to protecting the right to private life and the right to freedom of expression.

(SP/GB)

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