MosNews.com - 12.20.2004

MosNews.com

Siberian Newspaper Editor Sentenced for Anti-Semitism

A court in the Siberian city of Novosibirk handed down a two-and-a-half-year suspended sentence to a local newspaper editor for publishing anti-Semitic views. 

The court convicted Russkaya Sibir editor Igor Kolodezenko of inciting ethnic hatred after prosecutors proved that he was behind a number of articles published in the paper that contained materials defamatory of Jews, as well as calls to violence against Jews, the Russian Information Agency Novosti reported.

Kolodezenko, who pleaded not guilty, said that he was “telling the truth” in the articles, and added that he would continue to fight, and appeal the verdict.

The outspoken editor was sentenced to three years in a penal colony in 2003 for his anti-Semitic publications, but avoided a jail term after being amnestied.