Jailed Russian, 19, Faces Deportation From France Over Nazi Salute

A 19-year-old Russian man has been sentenced to eight months in prison and permanently banned from French territory after making Nazi salutes near a synagogue, prosecutors said on Wednesday.

He was arrested three days earlier in the town of Sarcelles, in the northern suburbs of Paris, where he was seen with two other individuals.

The town is home to a large Jewish community.

A French national of Ukrainian origin, who appeared in court alongside the Russian man on Tuesday, was sentenced to six months in prison.

The court found the pair guilty, among other charges, of glorifying terrorism, the Pontoise prosecutor's office told AFP.

Local residents saw the suspects taking photographs of themselves while performing Nazi salutes in front of the place of worship.

According to the public prosecutor, footage from surveillance cameras and images recovered from one of their mobile phones established that the Russian national had performed a Nazi salute with another man who had not been arrested or identified.

Moise Kahloun, head of the Jewish community of Sarcelles, said he was satisfied with the court's ruling, describing it as "the only way for us to overcome this surge of antisemitism."

France is home to western Europe's largest Jewish population, at around half a million people.

Members of France's Jewish community have said the number of antisemitic acts has surged following the attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023 which triggered Israel's military response in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.

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