German court convicts far-right politician Bjoern Hoecke for using Nazi slogan

A high-profile politician in the far-right Alternative for Germany party was convicted for the second time Monday of knowingly using a Nazi slogan at a political event.

Controversial German far-right politician Bjoern Hoecke was fined €16,900 Monday for using a banned Nazi slogan, his second conviction for the offence.

Hoecke, the leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the eastern region of Thuringia, was fined by judges in the city of Halle for knowingly using the phrase "Alles fuer Deutschland" (Everything for Germany) at a party gathering in December 2023.

At the event in the city of Gera in Thuringia, Hoecke, 52, had called out the phrase "everything for" and incited the crowd to reply: "Germany".

A motto of the Sturmabteilung paramilitary group that played a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power, the phrase is illegal in Germany, along with the Nazi salute and other slogans and symbols from that era.

In May the same court had already fined Hoecke €13,000 euros for using the same phrase at a 2021 campaign rally.

At the opening of his latest trial last week Hoecke insisted the phrase consisted of "commonplace words that happened to be used by a criminal organisation" and branded the proceedings a "farce".

Considered an extremist by German intelligence services, Hoecke has long courted controversy.

(AFP)

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