For the second time in seven weeks, a German court has convicted prominent far-right leader Björn Höcke for using a banned Nazi slogan.
The conviction – at a time when the far right is on the rise in Europe – is the latest in a series of legal setbacks for Mr Höcke, the leader of the nationalist Alternative for Germany party in the eastern state of Thuringia.
After a three-day trial, it was found on Monday that Mr Höcke had deliberately ignored a ban on using the banned Nazi slogan – “Everything for Germany”. He was fined 16,900 euros, about $18,100, after using the slogan late last year.
The decision came after Mr Höcke was fined €13,000 in mid-May for using the slogan during a 2021 campaign speech.
The court in Halle ruled that Mr Höcke had deliberately incited a crowd of sympathisers to complete the slogan, which had been carved into the blades of the paramilitary wing of the Nazi party.
“When I see what is happening in Europe, it is still essential that we counter the danger that old symbols from the Nazi era will become acceptable again,” Judge Jan Stengel said in his ruling, according to local authorities. news reportsStill, the sentence was less than the suspended prison sentence and two-year ban from political office that prosecutors had sought.
Specific expressions, greetings, uniforms and symbols associated with the Nazis are banned in Germany.
While Mr Höcke and his lawyers had not convincingly denied knowledge of the sentence’s dark past during his first trial in Halle, his defence had argued this time that the sentence should not be banned. And despite a video presented as evidence of Mr Höcke gesturing to the audience to finish the sentence, his lawyers also argued that the audience’s reaction was unexpected.
In his half-hour closing statement, Mr Höcke, one of the most extreme voices in the far-right party, said the trial was politically motivated and aimed at muzzling his political speeches. He also called on his party to launch parliamentary inquiries into the state justice system.
The AfD made solid gains in the European Parliament elections, which have no direct implications for Germany’s federal or state governments but are seen as a barometer of the country’s mood. The far-right party won 15.9 percent of the vote across Germany. In the state of Thuringia, where Mr Höcke leads the party, it won 30.7 percent — 7.5 points ahead of its nearest mainstream rival, and the AfD is poised to make significant gains in September’s state elections.
