Tupirani da Hora Lores, pastor of Pentecostal Generation Jesus Christ Church in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has been sentenced to 18 years and six months in prison for antisemitic rhetoric espoused at his church, wherein he has called for a second Holocaust.
According to Jewish Telegraph Agency, the sentence is historically significant for Brazil, making headlines across the nation.
In a video captured in 2020, da Hora Lores can be heard calling on God to ordain a second Holocaust for Jewish people.
“Massacre the Jews, God, hit them with your sword, for they have left God, they have left the nations,” da Hora Lores said in the prayer, according to The Times of Israel. A clamor of affirmation can be heard from the congregation.
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“They contrived, went with prostitutes, and when they were told to repent they said they’d do it but they lied,” the pastor said, in what may have been a reference to the forced conversions of Jewish people to Christianity during the Portuguese Inquisition. “God, what you have done in World War II, you must do again. This is what we ask for in our prayers to you: justice, justice, justice!”
Last year, Brazilian federal police raided de Hora Lores’ church, confiscating literature. De Hora Lores has now been convicted and sentenced for antisemitic hate speech.
“A historic sentence in the fight against anti-Semitism—it is the largest penalty applied in Brazil for this type of crime, which will help to inhibit this odious practice,” said Ricardo Sidi, who is legal director of the Brazilian Israelite Confederation and acted as assistant to the prosecution.
Judge Valeria Caldi Magalhães said that da Hora Lores used his position as pastor to commit a crime, “which increases the potential to induce followers to act similarly.”
“With regard to social conduct, the records showed that the defendant maintains an ostensible behavior that confronts public institutions,” Magalhães said.
“This sentence demonstrates the hardening of justice with cases of hate speech, which has grown exponentially, especially in the face of the Jewish community. The case is very serious and the reprimand received by the defendant is proportional to his dangerousness,” said Andrea Vainer, another member of the Brazilian Israelite Confederation legal team.
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Da Hora Lores will have an opportunity to appeal the ruling.
