Anti-feminist blogger Jean-Claude Rochefort, 74, sentenced to a year in prison for intentionally selling hatred of women.
Rochefort brazenly glorified the Polytechnique shooter, who claimed the lives of 14 in 1989 as part of an anti-feminist attack.
He referred to the killer on his blog, followed by thousands of men connected to the “incel” movement, a contraction of the words “involuntary celibates. “
Judge Pierre Labrie rejected the sentence of space arrest of nine months requested by the defense. The offence carries a maximum of two years.
Rochefort will be on probation for 3 years after his release.
During this period, you will be prohibited from possessing weapons and writing any content on the internet similar to the content for which you have been convicted. In addition, you will be prohibited from traveling near the Université de Montréal or the Université du Québec à Montréal. .
Jean-Claude Rochefort (archive 2010)
Crown prosecutor Jerome Laflamme said the conviction demonstrates a developing trend to punish opposing offences more severely.
“This is a crime that is insidious. [This is] another example of violence against women that is taken seriously through sentencing and court,” she said.
Speaking before his sentencing, Rochefort expressed little regret for his actions.
He describes himself as a “victim,” a “prophet,” a “martyr” and a “great persecutor” of the state of Quebec. Under pressure that he only expressed his “philosophical opinions” and that he had no duty to the Polytechnic. bloodbath because he “didn’t kill anyone. “
Rochefort has long been to post hateful comments online.
In 2009 he was arrested and charged with public incitement to hatred days before the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of mass femicide.
But he gets away with a technicality: the perception of “identifiable group” similar to that of the crime, as established by the Penal Code of the time, applied only to distinctions by “color, race, religion, ethnic origin or sexual orientation. “” — not about sex.
Therefore, the court concluded in 2010 that women were not an organization explicitly through the article of the law in question, and the fees were dismissed.
However, the law has evolved since then, in part because of Rochefort, and the concept of identifiable organization has been significantly expanded to include national origin, age, gender identity or expression, intellectual or physical disability, and sex. “
The Canadian Press report first published on January 27, 2023.