Court convicts German far-right figure Bjorn Hocke for using Nazi slogan
Al Jazeera
Hocke was fined for using a Nazi motto – illegal in modern-day Germany – during a campaign rally in 2021.
A court has convicted one of the best known figures in the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party of using a Nazi slogan in a speech and ordered him to pay a fine.
Judges fined Bjorn Hocke 13,000 euros ($14,000) on Tuesday for using the phrase “Alles fur Deutschland” (“Everything for Germany”) during a 2021 campaign rally.
Once a motto of the Sturmabteilung, or SA, paramilitary group, which played a key role in Adolf Hitler’s rise to power, the phrase is illegal in modern-day Germany along with the Nazi salute and other slogans and symbols from that era. Hocke argued that it is an “everyday saying”.
He testified at the trial that he is “completely innocent”. The former history teacher described himself as a “law-abiding citizen”.
The verdict was delivered months before regional elections in the eastern state of Thuringia, in which Hocke plans to run for governor.
