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Pedro Varela Jailed Photo: Spanish Media

Barcelona - A Spanish court has sentenced a bookshop owner to two years and nine months in prison for spreading racist propaganda, justice officials said Monday. Pedro Varela spread ideas favourable to genocide that denigrated Jews, blacks and other groups, the court said.

He apparently did this through the books he sold at his Barcelona bookshop, and by organizing lectures.

Prosecutors had asked for a four-year prison sentence. Varela was also ordered to pay a fine of 2,880 euros (3,945 dollars).

His defence had argued that Varela belonged to no political party and that there were no banned books in Spain.

Varela had already been handed seven months in prison on similar charges, in 2008. At that time, he avoided being jailed, because he lacked a criminal record.

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