Prosecutors in the Bavarian city of Regensburg applied for an order of punishment against Richard Williamson, accusing him of incitement, said Johann Ploed, the president of the city's district court.

Ploed declined to specify the level of the fine being sought. He said a judge now has to decide on the application, which was filed on Wednesday, and that decisions normally take about a week.

An order of punishment is a German legal tool which involves no trial but, if accepted by the defendant, is equivalent to a conviction.

Williamson's German lawyer, Matthias Lossmann, said "it is not ruled out that we will file an appeal if the court issues the order of punishment," the daily Tagesspiegel reported in a preview of its Friday edition.

The investigation of whether Williamson broke German laws against Holocaust denial was launched earlier this year after a Swedish television station aired an interview during which he said he didn't believe any Jews were killed in gas chambers during World War II.

The interview, conducted near Regensburg, was granted shortly before Williamson's excommunication was lifted by Pope Benedict XVI, along with that of three other bishops from the anti-modernization movement of the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.

Benedict's lifting of Williamson's excommunication sparked outrage among Jewish groups and in Israel. The Vatican's handling of the affair prompted criticism from German Chancellor Angela Merkel.