In a precedent-setting case, a Two Hills engineer was sent to jail for 16 months for showing what the judge called an “appalling” level of hatred toward Jews on his website. Crown prosecutor Steven Bilodeau said the case will be a “benchmark” for future cases because it’s the first hate-crime conviction in Canada involving Internet postings. “We needed a sentence like this to send a strong message that there’s no room in this country for hate like this,” said Bilodeau following yesterday’s sentencing.

Justice Philip Clarke told court he couldn’t entertain a conditional sentence in the case because of the total absence of remorse shown by Reni Sentana-Ries, 63.

“He does not believe his actions to be illegal, but rather a sharing of truth and hope for society,” said Clarke.

Sentana-Ries, who changed his name from Reinhard Mueller, was found guilty by a jury in December of wilfully promoting hatred for anti-Semitic writings he posted on his website, Federation of Free Planets.

On the site, he blamed Jews for everything from lying about the Holocaust to engineering the AIDS virus to kill scores of people and make the population easier to control.

He referred to Jewish people in terms like debauched, subhuman and demons.

Sentana-Reis’s website is still operational and is hosted in the United States. However, the judge has ordered him to shut it down.

Bernie Farber, chief executive officer of the Canadian Jewish Congress, called Sentana-Ries’s diatribes among the most vile and disgusting anti-Semitic displays he’s ever seen.

Yesterday, Farber applauded the sentence.

“The judge has issued a clarion call to hatemongers in this country, saying if you’re going to commit a hate crime, you’re going to sit in jail,” he said.

“Many people that come across a website like this already have hate in their hearts. This stokes that hate.”

During often-bizarre sentencing arguments Thursday, Sentana-Ries, who acted as his own lawyer, informed court that he held the title of “Lion of the Tribe of Judah” and as such was the guardian and protector of Jewish people.

He also said he and his wife, Seila Sentana-Ries, had been persecuted for nearly a decade by various spy agencies because of their secret powers and knowledge.

Sentana-Ries’s hard time will be followed by three years’ probation, during which he won’t be allowed on the Internet, either at home or in cyber cafes.

Cops will also be allowed to raid his home without a warrant to make sure he’s not going online, ordered Clarke.

The hard drives on Sentana-Ries’s seized computers – which he fought in court to get back – will be erased.

After Sentana-Ries, a tiny white-haired man clad in a sage-green suit, was led into custody by sheriffs, Seila wandered around the courthouse in a daze. “It’s so unfair. They should never lock him up,” she said.

Seila claimed Sentana-Ries was only trying to get the truth out about the world economy with his writings.

“We could have set up our economic system in any country to free all people from crime, poverty and bondage without one drop of blood being shed.”

ES