A German court convicted lawyer and right-wing extremist Horst Mahler on three charges of inciting racial hatred and denying the Holocaust took place, and sentenced him to six years in prison.

Mahler, 73, once a left-wing militant and founding member of the Red Army Faction (RAF), is a trained lawyer who later in life switched sides and became a far-right activist, joining the extremist NPD party in 2000.

Denying the Holocaust is a crime in Germany, punishable by up to five years in prison.

Mahler is a repeat offender and was sentenced to one year more than the maximum recommended sentence because he was unrepentant, the court said.

Mahler was charged after holding a public speech in which he denied the Holocaust took place and posting Holocaust denials on the Internet. He also continued to deny the Holocaust during his trial and in his closing statement, the court in Munich said.