The court ruled on Tuesday evening that he should pay 100 daily rates of 130 euros each. The 52-year-old had rejected the allegations that he had knowingly used the banned slogan of the SA (Storm Department) of the NSDAP. The verdict is not yet final and an appeal is possible within a week. At a speech in May 2021 in Merseburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Höcke said at the end: “Everything for our homeland, everything for Saxony-Anhalt, everything for Germany.” The third part of the triad is a forbidden slogan.
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The public prosecutor demanded 6 months imprisonment
In their plea, the public prosecutor’s office had called for a suspended prison sentence of six months. Prosecutor Benedikt Bernzen said it was neither understandable nor credible that Höcke did not know that the slogan was banned. In addition, the AfD man should pay 10,000 euros, if possible for charitable institutions. Höcke’s defense lawyers called for an acquittal in long lectures. Lawyer Philip Müller said there was no connection to the Nazi era at the event in Merseburg. There is no evidence that the slogan was used in a planned or prepared manner.
The Thuringian AfD is classified as right-wing extremist by the state Office for the Protection of the Constitution and observes, Höcke is its state leader. There are no direct consequences for his top candidacy in the state elections in Thuringia on September 1st with the current ruling.
More court hearings
The politician will probably have to return to the dock in Halle because he is said to have used the slogan “Everything for Germany” again during an appearance in Gera last December. According to the indictment, he is said to have spoken the first part “Everything for” himself as a speaker and then used gestures to encourage the audience to shout “Germany”. At this point, the complaint about the speech in Merseburg and the investigation had long been a topic in the media. An indictment against him on charges of incitement to hatred was also admitted at the Mühlhausen regional court in Thuringia. There are currently no dates for either negotiation.
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Source: Nachrichten
