Gabriel Sohier Chaput follows his lawyer as he arrives for sentencing in Montreal, Wednesday, July 12, 2023. Sohier Chaput was found guilty in January of promoting hatred against Jews, in connection with an article he wrote for the neo-Nazi website the Daily Stormer. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi
MONTREAL – A Quebec man convicted of promoting hatred against Jews has been sentenced to 15 months in jail and three years of probation.
Quebec court Judge Manlio Del Negro said today in a Montreal courtroom that it’s clear Gabriel Sohier Chaput hasn’t grasped the seriousness of his actions or the harm he’s caused to society.
Sohier Chaput was found guilty in January, after the judge ruled that a 2017 article published on the neo-Nazi website the Daily Stormer actively promoted hatred of Jewish people.
The accused was a frequent contributor to the website, writing more than 800 articles for the online publication named after the Nazi-era propaganda newspaper Der Sturmer.
Both the prosecution and the defence had recommended a three-month sentence followed by probation, but Del Negro said in July that he worried such a sentence would trivialize the crime.
Sohier Chaput has admitted to writing part of the article that led to the charges, but has argued that the article was intended to be taken ironically and that it used humour and exaggeration.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 22, 2023.
