Rome - Four men were convicted of inciting race hatred Monday from the Italian website of the neo-Nazi group Stormfront. The four, aged 23 to 42 and from various towns across Italy, were sentenced to terms ranging from 30 months to three years for "promoting and directing a group whose purpose was the instigation to ethnic, religious and racial discrimination and violence".
A Rome judge found the four guilty of targeting "Jews and immigrants, advocating the supremacy of the white race and instigating racism and Holocaust-denial".
The four, who were placed under house arrest Monday, were arrested November 16 after police shut down the website, which had regularly posted anti-Semitic and white supremacist propaganda.
The arrests were made in Milan, Frosinone and Pescara while 17 searches were carried out across the country, most in the north east. 'Nazi-Fascist' propaganda and weapons were found.
In December 2011 Rome prosecutors launched a probe into Stormfront's blacklisting of religious figures, politicians, journalists and judges. The Italian branch of Stormfront is part of an international body founded by the former head of the Ku Klux Klan, Don Black.
The blacklist included:
Turin Archbishop Cesare Nosiglia; Riccardo Pacifici, the President of the Jewish Community in Rome; Adel Smith, the President of the Muslim Union of Italy; the mayor of Padua, Flavio Zanonato; several members of the judiciary; and journalists Gad Lerner, a Jew, and veteran TV talk-show host Maurizio Costanzo. According to media reports, those on the list were targeted because of their support for immigrants. Also listed were then House Speaker Gianfranco Fini and then Minister for International Cooperation and Integration Andrea Riccardi, who have both spoken out about citizenship rights for immigrant children. They were on a list of so-called 'Italian delinquents' drawn up by the neo-Nazi group.
