Michail Chkhikvishvili, the Georgian neo-Nazi extremist better known online as “Commander Butcher,” has finally been sentenced in federal court after spending years trying to turn internet hatred into real-world bloodshed.
On Wednesday, a judge in Brooklyn handed the 22-year-old leader of the Maniac Murder Cult 15 years in federal prison after he pleaded guilty last November to soliciting hate crimes and distributing instructions for making bombs and ricin.
Considering this human stain was allegedly plotting mass poisonings of Jewish children while encouraging school shootings and terrorist attacks online, 15 years honestly feels light. Then again, guys like Chkhikvishvili rarely put themselves in actual danger. Instead, they sit behind keyboards, cosplay as revolutionaries, and try to manipulate unstable followers into doing the dirty work for them.
Yes, I realize the irony of me saying this from behind a keyboard. But the only thing I’m trying to get people to do is watch their kids and get rid of their damn guns. But, I digress.
Anyway, that’s exactly what prosecutors say happened in the Antioch High School shooting in Nashville earlier this year. Authorities said 17-year-old Solomon Henderson, who murdered 16-year-old Josselin Corea Escalante before killing himself, was heavily influenced by the Maniac Murder Cult (MKY) and its propaganda. Henderson reportedly mentioned MKY and Chkhikvishvili by name in his writings and recordings before the attack.
As bizarre as it still sounds, Henderson, a Black teenager, had immersed himself in neo-Nazi and white supremacist ideology connected to the Eastern European extremist cult. Then again, logic has never exactly been a strong suit of the kids who are deep in these extremist cultures.
Federal prosecutors described Chkhikvishvili as one of the leaders of MKY, with followers spread across the internet like mold in a flooded basement. The group encouraged murders, bombings, arson, and school shootings through online propaganda and a charming little manifesto known as the “Hater’s Handbook.”
One of Chkhikvishvili’s more horrifying ideas involved dressing as Santa Claus and handing poisoned candy to Jewish children in New York during the holidays. Because apparently even the Nazis have become terminally online edgelords trying to one-up each other in depravity.
And now we’ve arrived at the sentencing phase where everyone pretends the monster suddenly discovered remorse. During the hearing, his defense attorney reportedly argued that Chkhikvishvili had been bullied and struggled with depression as a teenager, as if that somehow explains or softens any of this.
Sorry, but millions of people get bullied growing up without trying to inspire terrorist attacks and race war fantasies. Being treated badly in school does not magically transform someone into a genocidal maniac obsessed with poisoning Jewish children.
Then came the truly pathetic part. Chkhikvishvili cried in court after receiving his sentence. So much for the tough-guy ‘Commander Butcher’ image. It’s almost funny how these extremist types always portray themselves online as fearless warriors ready to burn civilization to the ground, but the second consequences show up, they suddenly become trembling victims begging for sympathy. The same man who allegedly encouraged others to commit murders and terrorist attacks couldn’t even hold it together when faced with prison time. That tells you everything you need to know about the courage of internet fascists. Maybe we should start calling him Kommander Kleenex instead.
Naturally, he also claimed to take responsibility for his actions. You’ll have to forgive me if I don’t buy that for a second. Guys like this are usually never sorry for the suffering they caused. They’re only sorry they got caught. Real remorse would require understanding the damage left behind by the ideology he spent years spreading.
While Chkhikvishvili wasn’t on trial for the Antioch shooting itself, prosecutors directly connected his propaganda to the attack. A 16-year-old girl named Josselin Corea Escalante is dead. Solomon Henderson is dead too after throwing his own life away for an ideology that would have despised him anyway. Another school community was shattered because some neo-Nazi cult leader halfway across the world decided America was an easy target full of vulnerable young people and easy access to guns.
The most infuriating part is that he’s not wrong. America remains the perfect hunting ground for extremists looking to inspire violence remotely.
You no longer need a sophisticated terror network operating inside the country. All you need is an internet connection, a steady stream of propaganda, and some isolated teenager looking for meaning in the darkest corners of the web.
Chkhikvishvili understood that long before many of our politicians did.
(Source)
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