A man who distributed anti-Semitic leaflets in Kiev was sentenced to four years in prison.
Vasiliy Ostrinsky, 43, was convicted on two charges. The Kiev district court dropped a charge of inciting interethnic hatred and deferred the sentence for two years, the Ukrainian daily newspaper Segodnya/Today reported Thursday.
Jewish leaders in Ukraine were disappointed that Ostrinsky was not prosecuted under the Ukrainian Criminal Code for the incitement of ethnic or racial strife.
“The Jewish community was hoping that the case would be a lesson demonstrating that the court system is really ready to fight against anti-Semitism,” Rabbi Moshe Reuven Azman, one of Ukraine’s chief rabbis, told JTA.
Ostrinsky, who is unemployed and from the Odessa region, was acting alone on behalf of the Russian Orthodox Monarchic Party when he distributed thousands of leaflets titled “Jewish Fascism,” “Zionism Against Mankind” and “Warning to America” near the Kiev central railway and underground stations, according to the Ukrainian Secret Service.
