A court ruled on Tuesday that one of the best-known figures in the far-right Alternative for Germany party knowingly used a Nazi slogan in a speech and ordered him to pay a fine.
The verdict in Bjrn Hckes trial comes months before a regional election in the eastern state of Thuringia in which he plans to run for the governors job.
The state court in the eastern city of Halle convicted Hcke of using symbols of a former Nazi organization. It imposed a fine totaling 13,000 euros (about $14,000).
The charge can carry a maximum sentence of three years in prison. Prosecutors had sought a six-month suspended sentence, while defense lawyers argued for acquittal.
The case centered on a speech in Merseburg in May 2021 in which Hcke used the phrase Everything for Germany! Prosecutors contended he was aware of its origin as a slogan of the Nazis SA stormtroopers, but Hcke has argued that it is an everyday saying.
Court spokesperson Adina Kessler-Jensch said judges were convinced that Hcke was aware the formulation was a banned SA slogan.
Presiding Judge Jan Stengel told Hcke that you are an articulate, intelligent man who knows what he is saying, German news agency dpa reported.
The former history teacher testified at the trial that he is completely innocent and described himself as a law-abiding citizen.
The 52-year-old Hcke is an influential figure on the hard right of Alternative for Germany, or AfD.
He has led the AfDs regional branch in Thuringia since 2013, the year the party was founded, and is due to lead its campaign in a state election set for Sept. 1.
He once called the Holocaust memorial in Berlin a monument of shame and called for Germany to perform a 180-degree turn in how it remembers its past. A party tribunal in 2018 rejected a bid to have him expelled.
Prosecutor Benedikt Bernzen argued in Tuesdays closing arguments that Hcke had used Nazi vocabulary strategically and systematically in the past, dpa reported.
Hcke accused prosecutors of not looking for exonerating circumstances and argued that freedom of opinion is limited in Germany.
Both sides can appeal the verdict. After the trial concluded, Hcke wrote in an English-language post on social network X: If this verdict stands, free speech will be dead in Germany. The ability to dissent is in jeopardy.
Its questionable whether the conviction in the trial, which opened in mid-April, will have any significant political effect on Hckes ambitions. It wont have any direct legal effect on his candidacy.
AfD is particularly strong in Germanys formerly communist east, where Thuringia is located. Its unlikely that any other party will agree to work with Hcke and put him in the governors office, but AfDs strength has made forming governing coalitions in the region very complicated.
The Thuringia branch of AfD is one of three that the domestic intelligence agency has under official surveillance as a proven right-wing extremist group.
On Monday, a court ruled in a separate case that the agency was justified in putting the whole party under observation for suspected extremism. AfD has portrayed the designation as a political attempt to discredit the party and said it will seek to appeal.
(AP)
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