Part of the audience present in the courtroom applauded this decision. The judge first ordered the man’s arrest because he believed he posed an imminent threat to society and could hide behind any keyboard anywhere in the world and anonymously spread his hate ideology.
He later changed his mind after the lunch break, Crown prosecutor Me Patrick Lafrenière did not call for his immediate detention as there was no criminal record and he has complied with the terms so far.
In the meantime, Gabriel Sohier-Chaput has changed lawyers. He is now represented by Me Antonio Cabral. While awaiting his sentence scheduled for May 11, the defendant is not allowed to use a computer or the Internet except for work.
Nothing ironic, says the court
The main evidence in this lawsuit is an article by Gabriel Sohier-Chaput, aka Pointer, published in January 2017 on The Daily Stormer, the world’s most popular far-right portal. The script dealt with anti-Semitic posters posted in a bus stop in British Columbia. Nazism everywhere, non-stop, until the streets are flooded with the tears of our enemies, the 36-year-old wrote at the time.
Pointer was the second most important contributor to the platform. He argued in court that references to Nazism in his writings were mere exaggeration, humor, irony. Since 2016, he has written more than 800 articles for the openly racist, homophobic, misogynist, and transphobic publication.
The Nazis, people who want the Jews to be exterminated, are a Hollywood creation, he testified on March 22, 2022. They have no real basis. I’ve never met any. It’s a dark fantasy. The Holocaust is the greatest evil, it is the sacred cow. If we want to dismantle political correctness, we must touch on anti-Semitism. One should not hide anything based on emotional reactions. Everything should be discussed openly.
Judge Del Negro did not believe his testimony. The court finds the statements flimsy, disingenuous, opportunistic, misleading, far-fetched, implausible, concealing the truth and cobbled together to disguise the true intent of the defendant, we read in the 72-page judgment.
He adds that there is nothing ironic about the fact that several Jews and other people were exterminated. On the contrary, it is one of the saddest events in the history of mankind, where a people was persecuted and exterminated because of their religious affiliation, among other things.
One article, two authors?
Gabriel Sohier-Chaput had also argued that he was only the author of the first part of the January 2017 article in question. The man, who wore small glasses and had his hair tied back in a bun, had argued it was more likely the Daily Stormer’s owner, well-known American far-right figure Andrew Anglin. Again, the judge did not believe the defendant’s version.
He believes that all the evidence presented to the court leaves no doubt that it was Gabriel Sohier-Chaput who wrote the second part of the article.
The decision also underscores the fact that the defendant intended to infect readers with what the court figuratively referred to as “the hate virus.”
It is crystal clear that Gabriel Sohier-Chaput was aware that his writings would incite hatred towards the Jews. The images he describes in the first part of his text are haunting and explicit, targeting Jews in a dour tone while endorsing the violence of Nazism.
From Revisionism to the Tribunal
On July 8, Mr. Sohier-Chaput’s trial took a special turn when the defense began a debate on the links between Nazism and the Holocaust.
Defense attorney Me Hélène Poussard had argued that it was possible to be a Nazi without agreeing to the extermination of the Jews.
We play with words, she had brought to life. According to the dictionary, Nazism is National Socialism. It was an ideology. Exterminating the Jews was not part of the original plan. And is it really 6 million victims? I think if people died in concentration camps it was to save money.
I advise you to stop: What you’re saying isn’t reasonable, Judge Del Negro intervened, before asking for a debate on the legal knowledge issue to be held at the next session.
In his ruling, the judge writes that certain statements made by defense counsel have no place in court and that the defense is attempting to distort historical facts and rewrite history.
He points out that the connection between the Holocaust and the Nazis is historical fact and so widely accepted that it is not a matter of debate among sane people.
Judge Del Negro concludes that victims of the Holocaust deserve to be left alone.
That 77 years after the end of World War II we still insist on minimizing and harassing the role that Nazism played towards the Jews during the Holocaust is deeply shocking.