In a landmark decision, a tribunal ruled that two white supremacists were spreading hate when they posted offensive material on their websites about blacks, Jews and other minorities.

The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal on Friday levelled the two men with $13,000 in penalties and ordered them to stop spreading hate.

Richard Warman, who launched the complaint against the pair in Feb. 2002, was awarded $5,000. It's believed to be the first time a Canadian Internet web-hosting service has been found liable for hate messages.

One of the men, Toronto resident Alexan Kulbashian, ran a web-hosting service called Affordable Space.com that carried the websites.

Kulbashian and James Richardson of London, Ont. were also members of the Canadian Ethnic Cleansing Team, as well as the now-defunct www.tricityskins.com.

"The material found on the tri-cityskins.com website is likely to expose persons who are non-Christian or non-Caucasian to hatred or contempt," the 48-page ruling states.

"Black persons and people of the Jewish faith are particularly laid open to ridicule, ill feelings or hostility, creating the right conditions for hatred or contempt against them to flourish.''

Tribunal decision-maker Athanasios Hadjis ordered Kulbashian to pay Warman $5,000 for identifying him in a hate message.

Further, both Kulbashian and Richardson were ordered to pay $1,000 in penalties, and the Canadian Ethnic Cleansing Team and Affordable Space.com were hit with fines of $3,000 each.

Warman told The Canadian Press that he was "ecstatic'' with the decision. "It shows human-rights laws work," Warman said from Ottawa.

Canadian Jewish Congress CEO Bernie Farber, an expert on Internet hate, said Warman had done Canadians a "valuable service."

"This was exactly the kind of case that should come before the Canadian Human Rights Commission,'' Farber told CP.

The websites were shut down after Farber's organization complained to Toronto police about four years ago.

With a report from The Canadian Press