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Toronto (January 23, 2023) – Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) welcomes today’s guilty verdict against a Montreal man who promoted antisemitism in an article for a neo-Nazi website.

Today, a Quebec court judge ruled that Gabriel Sohier-Chaput, who has a long history of neo-Nazi activity, is guilty of wilfully promoting hatred against Jews after writing an article in 2017 for the Daily Stormer in which he called for “non-stop Nazism, everywhere.” Writing under the pseudonym “Charles Zeiger,” he also used antisemitic memes and mocked a Holocaust survivor to whom he referred mockingly as an “oven-dodger” in one of the more than 800 articles he wrote for the site.

“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,” said Michael Levitt, FSWC President and CEO. “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.”

FSWC commends the Crown and Judge Manlio Del Negro for their strong statements against Sohier-Chaput and his defence, who had argued the article in question was intended to be humourous and taken ironically. Judge Del Negro stated in his decision, “There is nothing ironic in the fact that millions of Jewish people and others were exterminated during the Holocaust orchestrated by the Nazis ... it is one of the saddest events in the history of humanity.”