A Quebec judge said the three-month jail term for a Montreal man convicted of promoting hatred against Jews online recommended by the prosecution and the defense is too lenient.
Quebec Court Justice Manlio Del Negro said at the sentencing hearing for Gabriel Sohier Chaput on July 12 that he is not convinced of the sincerity of his apology or that the 36-year-old has renounced racist ideology.
Del Negro said he will render his sentence on Sept. 22, making clear that he does not think Crown prosecutor Patrick Lafrenière and defense lawyer Antonio Cabral’s agreed recommendation is commensurate with the gravity of the crime and would even “trivialize” it, especially its cruel references to the Holocaust.
He referred to a pre-sentencing report that found Sohier Chaput little changed in his political leaning or his understanding of the damage his writing for a far-right publication could have caused.
The judge noted that sentences have been harsher in other cases of inciting hatred on the internet. The defence had originally sought a six-month suspended sentence.
Sohier Chaput was charged with and found guilty in January of a single count of inciting hatred against an identifiable group for an article published in 2017 under his pseudonym Zeiger in the U.S.-based neo-Nazi website the Daily Stormer.
Among the more inflammatory passages was: “We must make sure no social justice warrior or Jew can remain untriggered…Non-stop Nazism everywhere, until the streets are flooded with the tears of our enemies.”
A Holocaust survivor was referred to as an “oven dodger.”
During his long-running trial Sohier Chaput claimed the article was satirical and meant to goad the sensitivities of the political left, and not to hurt anybody. He further testified that he did not write some parts of that article, but he did acknowledge that he had contributed at least 800 pieces to the Daily Stormer over 2016 and 2017.
Eta Yudin, Quebec vice-president of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, urged the court to give Sohier Chaput a sentence that would set an example.
“A clear message must be sent that there is no place for antisemitism, a hatred that spreads like a virus and erodes society,” she stated, adding that Jews are the victims of an alarming number of hate crimes in Canada.
Henry Topas, Quebec director of B’nai Brith Canada, who was also in the courtroom for the hearing, tweeted, “While very impressed with the conduct of Justice Manlio Del Negro, we were alarmed by the Crown’s position that a three-month sentence was a sufficient deterrent.
“It is our opinion that a sentence of a year or more is required to promote deterrence and to protect all of Quebec’s minority communities. Anything less would be an affront to justice.”
In convicting Sohier Chaput, Del Negro decided he had “actively promoted the detestation of people of the Jewish faith” and called him “extremely dangerous,” not allowing him to be released from custody until a family member guaranteed he would respect the conditions set.
In March Sohier Chaput filed to appeal his conviction.
Del Negro dismissed Sohier Chaput’s apology made at the sentencing hearing, characterizing it as “opportunitistic.”
“It’s easy for him to say today he is sorry.”
The convicted man said he is no longer involved with the far-right movement and asked for clemency.
“It was not my intention to offend the feelings of people, I was very politicized,” he said. “I am different now.”
Sohier Chaput’s association with white supremacy came to public awareness in 2018 when the Montreal Gazette published an investigative series largely based on evidence from anti-fascism activists. He was depicted as not only a prolific online writer, but an influential recruiter for the far right.
Shortly afterward, B’nai Brith Canada filed a complaint with police, but it was months before Sohier Chaput, whose whereabouts were then unknown, made his first court appearance and pleaded not guilty.