France / 07-07-2012
Antisemitic graffiti – 6 months actual prison sentence
Renaison - A young man aged 22 was sentenced to a term of six months in prison after drawing a swastika on the front of the police building, on the walls of a Turkish restaurant, and at the entrance to the Emmaus hall in a small city in the Loire region.
The young man claimed that he belongs to a small American neo-Nazi group called "Aryan Circle". The Roanne police reported that he sprayed the word "Jew" on the police parking lot in Renaison with an arrow pointed toward the buildings of the police force, who he described as too "pro Jewish".
The suspect, a carpenter, married and the father of two children performed the acts on the night between June 30 and July 1 together with another young man aged 21 to whom the court delivered a six months suspended prison sentence and community service. The court in Roanne ruled that the two must pay compensation of 2000 Euros to the Licra Organization for damages caused. The organization had submitted the claim to the court.
"27 people were arrested by the Nazis in Renaison on June 10, 1944 and deported to the camps. Some never returned", the mayor testified during the trial. The graffiti has proven to be the source of great embarrassment in Renaison.
