Verdict in Montreal hate crime expected today

A Quebec court judge is scheduled to deliver his verdict in the trial of a Montreal man accused of promoting hatred against Jews.

Gabriel Sohier Chaput faces a single charge of wilfully promoting hatred in connection with an 2017 article he wrote for neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer -- one of hundreds he wrote for the site.

The 36-year-old has admitted to writing much of the article, including a call for "non-stop Nazism, everywhere," though has claimed that some of the most inflammatory passages were added by an editor.

Closing arguments in the trial began in July, but several additional hearings have been held as the defence and the prosecution have debated what facts can be accepted as true by the judge without calling an expert witness.

The defence has argued the prosecution has not adequately proven the link between Nazi ideology and the Holocaust.

The prosecution has argued the link between Nazism and the murder of millions of Jews during the Second World War is so well-known and generally-accepted that the judge should be able to accept it as fact without further evidence.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 23, 2023.