HALLE, Germany (AP) 鈥� A court on Tuesday convicted one of the best-known figures in the far-right Alternative for Germany party of using a Nazi slogan in a speech and ordered him to pay a fine.
The verdict in Bj枚rn H枚cke鈥檚 trial comes months before a regional election in the eastern state of Thuringia in which he plans to run for the governor鈥檚 job.
The state court in the eastern city of Halle convicted H枚cke of using symbols of an unconstitutional organization, German news agency dpa reported. 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 H枚cke used the phrase 鈥淓verything for Germany!鈥� Prosecutors contended he was aware of its origin as a slogan of the Nazis鈥� SA stormtroopers, but H枚cke has argued that it is an 鈥渆veryday saying.鈥�
He testified that he is 鈥渃ompletely innocent.鈥� The former history teacher described himself as a 鈥渓aw-abiding citizen.鈥�
The 52-year-old H枚cke is an influential figure on the hard right of Alternative for Germany, or AfD.
He has led the AfD鈥檚 regional branch in Thuringia since 2013, the year the party was founded, and is due to lead its campaign in set for Sept. 1.
He once called the Holocaust memorial in Berlin a 鈥渕onument of shame鈥� and called for Germany to perform a 鈥�180-degree turn鈥� in how it remembers its past. A party tribunal in 2018 to have him expelled.
Prosecutor Benedikt Bernzen argued in Tuesday鈥檚 closing arguments that H枚cke had used Nazi vocabulary 鈥渟trategically and systematically鈥� in the past.
H枚cke accused prosecutors of not looking for exonerating circumstances and argued that freedom of opinion is limited in Germany.
The Associated Press
