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London Mayor suspended from office for Nazi jibe+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)LONDON, Feb. 24_(Kyodo) _ London Mayor Ken Livingstone was suspended from office for four weeks after being found guilty Friday of bringing his office into disrepute for comparing a Jewish journalist to a Nazi concentration camp guard. Handing down the sentence, the three-person jury of the Adjudication Panel for England, which hears complaints against local authority members, unanimously agreed that Livingstone had been offensive to a degree that warranted suspension. "The appropriate sanction is for the mayor to be suspended...this is not a situation when it would be appropriate to disqualify the mayor, however, his treatment of the journalist was unnecessarily insensitive and offensive," David Laverick, chair of the disciplinary panel sitting in central London, explained. "He persisted with a line of comment likening the journalist's job to a concentration camp guard despite being told that the journalist was Jewish and found it offensive to be asked if he was a German war criminal," the chief prosecutor added. The incident between the outspoken Livingstone and London's Evening Standard newspaper reporter, Oliver Finegold, took place in February 2005 as the mayor was leaving a government party. Despite pressure from Finegold, the Jewish community, Holocaust survivors and other politicians, Livingstone, who is known for his turbulent relationship with journalists, refused to apologize for his offensive comments in the months following the outburst. "The case tribunal is concerned that the mayor does seem to have failed, from the outset of this case, to have appreciated that his conduct was unacceptable, was a breach of the Greater London Authority code of conduct, and did damage to the reputation of his office," Laverick testified. Responding to the verdict, Livingstone defended his case and the right to freedom of speech, stating, "This decision strikes at the heart of democracy. Elected politicians should only be able to be removed by the voters or for breaking the law." It is not yet known whether he will appeal the decision, but opposition politicians are already taking the opportunity to criticize Livingstone both for the initial incident and for leaving the capital city without an executive simply by failing to issue an overdue apology. The 60-year-old mayor, who was not present at the day's hearing, will be suspended from office as political caretaker of London for four weeks beginning March 1 and the deputy mayor will step into the high-level role, after which Livingstone will be allowed to resume his usual mayoral duties. |