US Court Sentences Attacker of Man Thought to Be Jewish to 30 Months

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - A man who said he wanted to "kill all of the Jews" before beating a victim he thought was Jewish has been sentenced by a US court to 30 months in prison under a law intended to prevent hate crimes, the Department of Justice said in a press release on Tuesday.

"Izmir Koch, 34, of Huber Heights, Ohio, was sentenced today to 30 months in prison for beating a man he believed to be Jewish outside of a Cincinnati restaurant", the release said.

In February of 2017, the defendant and his companions, according to the release, were heard yelling "I want to kill all of the Jews" and "I want to stab the Jews’ outside a Cincinnati restaurant", the release said. "The victim represented to Koch that he was Jewish, after which Koch began punching and kicking him".

Koch, 34, has been convicted of one count of violating a US hate crimes act and one count of making a false statement to the FBI, according to the release.

Other people joined the assault, which bruised the victim’s ribs and broke a facial bone, the release said. The victim was, in fact, not Jewish but was with people who were.