Jewish community leaders are at odds over whether a six-month jail sentence given last week to a Montreal man who pleaded guilty to wilfully promoting racial hatred on the Internet is appropriate.

Jean-Sebastien Presseault, 30, is only the second person in Canada to be convicted and sentenced for Internet hate under article 319 of the Criminal Code, which deals with hate propaganda.

Presseault, who has 24 tattoos of neo-Nazi and white-supremacist symbols covering his body, created and operated a website called "hatecore88wp," through a free U.S.-based hosting site, cjb.net. The number 88 is shorthand for “Heil Hitler” and the “wp” stands for white power.

The site targeted Jews and especially blacks, and expressed admiration for Hitler, as well as Timothy McVeigh, the executed Oklahoma City bomber.

He was arrested in December 2003, released on bail, and pleaded guilty last June.

The maximum penalty for the offence is two years imprisonment. The Crown had asked for one year.

Canadian Jewish Congress, Quebec Region, chair Jeffrey Boro called the sentence “very severe and exemplary,” especially considering that Presseault, 30, was also handed the maximum probation period of three years.

B’nai Brith Canada, however, called the sentence, rendered by Quebec Court justice Martin Vauclair, too lenient, considering that material on the website promoted “murder and genocide.”

Moise Moghrabi, Quebec chair of the organization’s League for Human Rights, said Presseault should have gotten a penalty close to the two-year limit.

Moghrabi feels this way because of the graphically violent and threatening nature of the material on the site, which he viewed, as well as because of its size (more than 50 pages); the fact it was up for a year; and its reach (more than 300,000 downloads were made of the racist music and videos offered on the site).

With regard to Jews, Moghrabi said the site contained claims that Jews control the world and made statements like “death to Jewry and Zionist tyrants.”

In addition, Moghrabi noted that Presseault has a criminal record and has previously served time on (non-hate) charges, including being held for a death threat against the judge in the hate case and possession of an illegal loaded gun in his home.

Presseault will be eligible for mandatory release after two months and, with good behaviour, could get parole after one month, he noted.

Moghrabi, a lawyer, also points to the benchmark 16-month jail sentence given in September to an Alberta man for promoting hatred on the Internet. Reni Sentana-Ries, 63, the former Reinhard Gustav Mueller, was convicted by a jury on one count of promoting hatred against Jews on his website, where he denied the Holocaust and accused Jews of creating diseases such as AIDS and the Ebola virus. The Edmonton Court of Queen’s Bench judge also prohibited him from using the Internet for three years afterward.

CJC chief executive officer Bernie Farber testified during the sentencing hearing about the website’s deleterious impact on the Jewish community.

Sentana-Ries, who acted as his own lawyer, contended that he and his wife received radio messages from extraterrestrials and believed he was the target of a government conspiracy.

Boro, a criminal lawyer, said he was unaware of the Alberta case and was surprised when told of the 16-month sentence.

Boro, who never saw Presseault’s website, pointed out that Vauclair had little choice but to give the sentence he did, because if Presseault offends again or breaches his release conditions, the judge would have to give a stiffer penalty.

In addition, Boro noted that a judge has to “leave a margin of manoeuvrability” for sentencing in any future hate-crime convictions. If such cases become more common, judges would likel increase sentences to act as a deterrent.

Vauclair described the content on Presseault’s site, which included degrading “cartoons” of blacks and games with the goal of killing blacks, as “vile, despicable and nauseating.” In handing down a prison term, Vauclair said he took into account Presseault’s violent history and the risk that he may reoffend.

On the other hand, he also considered that there is a possibility Presseault will be rehabilitated and that the site did not affect anyone directly.

Conditions of Presseault’s probation include no access to the Internet or contact with racist of extremist groups. Presseault was never linked to any particular group.

Presseault minimized the seriousness of his crimes, saying his activities had caused no harm to society, and he never apologized. He only regretted praising McVeigh.

His lawyer had asked for a three-month sentence served in the community. He noted that Presseault, who was on welfare when he was arrested, has changed his ideology and is trying to turn his life around. He is in a relationship, has a two-year-old daughter and wants to work in his father’s company.

Moghrabi added that a prison sentence, even six months, will probably discourage what he calls “the underground racists in suits” from disseminating hate on the Internet, referring to people who live outwardly respectable lives but are secretly uttering hate speech online.

“But it will not discourage the hard-core, more dangerous, elements, for whom a month in jail is nothing,” he said.

He also applauded the Canadian criminal justice system for starting to pursue online hate. “The problem is not new, and it is getting bigger. The authorities have finally woke up,” he said.

The sentencing discrepancy between the Alberta and Quebec cases, he said, indicates a need for more uniform guidelines for judges.

Boro also agreed that free speech has its limits, and that includes incitement against any group of people.