Prison has not changed anti-feminist blogger Jean-Claude Rochefort one iota. Two months after being convicted of inciting hatred against women, the admirer of the Polytechnique killer presents a “very high and unacceptable” risk of recidivism, according to the Quebec Commission on Conditional Liberation.
“You are still of the opinion that you have stood up despite your age, for men before the specter of feminism. […] You seem to see yourself as something of a reformer. […] The Commission does not see in this the beginning of awareness or accountability. In fact, the Commission sees no change in you,” concluded Commissioner Jean Dugré, in a decision issued on Tuesday.
Convicted of incitement to hatred last August, Jean-Claude Rochefort has been serving a sentence of approximately one year in prison since the end of January. Having served one-sixth of his sentence, he asked to obtain preparatory leave for parole. However, even if an intervener recommended granting it, the Commission flatly refused.
Particular fact: Jean-Claude Rochefort appealed the verdict and the sentence, but did not ask to be released during the proceedings.
On his blog frequented by 60,000 people, the 74-year-old man multiplied the posts to the glory of Marc Lépine, who murdered 14 women on December 6, 1989 at Polytechnique. It presented the mass murderer as a “saint”, a “hero” and a “role model” and featured him, armed to the teeth, in photo montages.
On the eve of the 30th anniversary of the Polytechnique massacre, Jean-Claude Rochefort invited his readers to “polish their rifles” in order to celebrate “Saint-Marc Lépine Day”. It was the culmination on his blog of a sordid “countdown” to the “celebrations” of the commemoration of the killing.
“Begin preparations. Put down lights, ammunition belts and a photo of St. Mark,” he wrote, two days before the commemorations.
In a montage published on his blog, the head of the assassin Lépine was glued to the body of a man armed with a pistol to whom a policeman said: “Do us a favor Marc, kill all these bitches. »
His hatred of women went so far as to describe them as “savage” and “evil”. He was thus a figurehead of the “incel” movement, these angry misogynistic young men.
Also, his posts had caused fear at UQAM, since the blogger regularly targeted feminist studies professors Mélissa Blais and Francis Dupuis-Déri on his blog.
Even today, Jean-Claude Rochefort shows no remorse, underlines the Commission. Besides, his only regret is that he did not know the Law. During the hearing, the anti-feminist blogger still said he was “the only one to [se] stand up to defend men against excessive feminism”.
“You are rather trying to minimize and justify your actions by evoking a simple opinion on issues such as the right and freedom of speech”, analyzes the commissioner.
In a report produced four months ago, Jean-Claude Rochefort said he “has nothing to lose” at this late stage in his life. Judge Pierre Labrie was thus worried last January about the accused’s “sense of revenge”, who claimed that justice could be his “next favorite subject to denounce”.
In the absence of a “significant” change in the offender, Commissioner Dugré concludes that the risk of Rochefort “committing these kinds of crimes again is very high and unacceptable to society”.