12-9-10  MONTREAL - The former director of B’nai Brith Canada in Quebec has been sentenced to serve 45 days in jail on weekends after pleading guilty to possession of child pornography.

Bill Surkis, 71, held his hands behind his back as Quebec Court Judge Céline Lamontagne said he would begin serving his sentence this weekend, from 9 a.m. Saturday to Sunday at 5 p.m., and following weekends. It is the minimum under the law.

“The existence of degrading and dehumanizing images will not be tolerated,” she told the court.

Surkis, the former academic dean at John Abbott College in Ste. Anne de Bellevue, was also ordered to perform 240 hours of community service over the next six months.

His name and DNA, however, will not be added to the national sex offenders registry and DNA data bank, as this would be “grossly disproportionate,” Lamontagne ruled.

He will, however, have to report to a parole officer for the next three years.

Surkis, also a former director of the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre, was arrested after he sent his home computer to a Best Buy store for repairs and a technician called police after discovering he had downloaded 21 videos of child pornography lasting eight hours and 43 minutes.

Most of the pornography on his hard driver, however, was of adults.

Surkis had testified he is sorry, ashamed and broken by the events, saying they “destroyed his life and his family,” the judge wrote.

Submitted by andie531 on Fri, 2010-12-10 18:45

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