A Canadian man was found guilty on January 23 for writing antisemitic screeds for the neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer.
The Canadian Press reported that a Quebec court concluded that the man, 36-year-old Gabriel Soher Chaput, didn’t just promulgate antisemitism in the more than 800 articles he wrote for the site under the pseudonym “Zeiger,” “he encouraged his readers to act.” The court also did not buy Chaput’s argument that his writings were intended to satirical, calling his argument “insincere” and “far-fetched.” Chaput is currently detained and will be sentenced at a later date; he faces up to two years in prison.
“Sohier Chaput is a coward who behind the veil of the internet thought he could rile up other haters to his disgusting cause,” B’nai Brith Canada CEO Michael Mostyn said in a statement. “Today’s decision shows that Canadians and our legal system will not accept such harmful, dangerous and genocidal drivel, all of which aim to resurrect the most vile ideology in world history.” B’nai Brith Canada had filed a complaint against Chaput in 2018 that eventually led to his arrest.
Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Center CEO and President Michael Levitt similarly said in a statement, “Following a long trial that included some troubling statements from the defence that minimized and distorted the Holocaust, the court has given the appropriate verdict for this case. Gabriel Sohier-Chaput clearly intended to incite hate and violence against Jewish people when he wrote his article and must finally face the consequences for his hateful actions.”
