Top court overturns Nazi booksellers' convictions

The Supreme Court has overturned the convictions of four former employees at the now-defunct Kalki bookstore in Barcelona as well as that of the publisher Molins de Rei, who all were found guilty of fostering xenophobia by selling Nazi literature.

In its ruling, the top court said that selling Nazi propaganda that promotes genocide is only a crime when there exists "a danger that it could create a climate of hostility that would incite violence."

The ruling, written by Justice Miguel Colmenero, also states that the defendants did not engage in any illegal association - as they had been charged - because none of the employees were part of any one large organization "that could have enough resources permitting them to push any ideology to promote discrimination."

In 2009, the four employees were sentenced to three and a half years in prison after they were found guilty of selling publications that justified the Holocaust and praised the Nazi regime. During a raid at the bookstore and publisher, police also found literature calling for the elimination of certain ethnic groups and praising racist regimes.