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Man who shared video of New Zealand attacks jailed for 21 months

By Nicholas Sakelaris
Ambulances and police are seen outside a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, on March 15 following a shooting attack. File Photo by Martin Hunter/EPA-EFE
Ambulances and police are seen outside a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, on March 15 following a shooting attack. File Photo by Martin Hunter/EPA-EFE

June 18 (UPI) -- A New Zealand man who shared a livestream of video footage taken of the shooting attacks at two Christchurch mosques will spend nearly two years in jail, a court ruled Tuesday.

Philip Neville Arps, 44, pleaded guilty to two charges of distributing objectionable material and was sentenced to 21 months in jail.

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Arps sent copies of the March 15 attacks to about 30 people. New Zealand's Office of Film and Literature classified the video as objectionable, meaning it's an offense to possess, share or host the footage.

Judge Stephen O'Driscoll said Arps had classified the bloody footage as "awesome." Having compared himself to Adolf Hitler's deputy Rudolf Hess, there's a high risk that Arps will offend again, the judge added.

"Your offending glorifies and encourages the mass murder carried out under the pretext of religious and racial hatred," O'Driscoll said. "It is clear from all the material before me that you have strong and unrepentant views towards the Muslim community. Your actions in distributing the day after the attack, when families were still waiting to hear whether family members had been killed, demonstrates particular cruelty on your part and callousness on your part."

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Arps, who has filed an appeal, owns a New Zealand insulation company that uses a Nazi logo. The same logo was used by accused gunman Brenton Tarrant, who featured it in an online document.

Tarrant, 28, pleaded not guilty this month to 51 counts of murder, 40 charges of attempted murder and one charge under the Terrorism Suppression Act, the first time it's been used in New Zealand.

Two teenagers have also been charged with distributing the livestream footage, which police say was taken by Tarrant during his assault.

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