Bulgarian Gets 18 Years in Jail over US Anti-Jewish Hate Crimes

Ivanov, who was arrested in 2008, had already pled guilty to the crimes earlier in the month which led to the automatic 18 year sentence. Photo by EPA/BGNES

Bulgarian, Ivaylo Ivanov, has been sentenced to 18 years in jail for hate crimes and felony weapons charges by Brooklyn Supreme Court in the US.

Ivanov, who was arrested in 2008, had already pled guilty to the crimes earlier in the month which led to the automatic 18 year sentence. However, he did appeal to the judge on Thursday to give him the chance of getting out 2 years early – an appeal that was refused, brooklyneagle.com reported.

“My intent and my motivation … [for] committing this hate crime was not based on anti-Semitism; it was the opposite,” Ivanov, who wore a Jewish yarmulke to court, said before being sentenced for spray-painting swastikas and scattering anti-Semitic leaflets around Brooklyn Heights in 2007.

Ivanov apologized repeatedly to the Jewish community before sentencing, saying that the cache of guns and bombs he had stored in his home weren’t intended to hurt anyone.

Ivanov’s lawyer criticized the sentence as “a bit overboard” and added that Ivanov’s actions had been clouded by the use of amphetamines.

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