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Ukrainian editor sentenced for anti-Semitic article

January 19, 2009

KIEV, Ukraine (JTA) -- The editor of an Odessa newspaper was found guilty of inciting ethnic hatred in Ukraine for writing an anti-Semitic article.

Ihor Volin-Danilov, an editor of Nashe Dyelo, received a suspended 18-month sentence for a 2007 article titled “Kill the best of the goyim.” Volin-Danilov concluded in the story that the Jewish religion is “criminal and immoral.”

An expert commission of the Ukrainian State Committee for Nationalities and Religions found that the xenophobic article "harms the stability of multinational Ukrainian society and is dangerous for interethnic accord in the state, provoking extremism.” 

Volin-Danilov was convicted of “Infringement of equal rights on the basis of racial or ethnic identity or attitude to religion,” an offense under the Ukrainian criminal code.

At an Odessa Prymorsky court hearing last week, a representative of the Jewish community said he had received reports of “xenophobes who attacked synagogues after reading the relevant books.”

Volin-Danilov must register weekly with the local police station.

Berl Kapulkin, the head of the Odessa Jewish community press service, told JTA that Odessa Jews appreciated the court decision.

“The Ukrainian Jewish community considers that even the suspended sentence for the guilty journalist makes an important contribution to the struggle against anti-Semitism,” said Eduard Dolinsky, a director-general of the Ukrainian Jewish Committee.    
 
 

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