On September 1st, Björn Höcke wants to go into the state elections as the top candidate of the Thuringian AfD. But first he has to go to court. He is accused of using Nazi license plates – now in a second case.
The public prosecutor’s office in Halle (Saale) has brought further charges against the Thuringian AfD parliamentary group leader Björn Höcke. The public prosecutor’s office said he was charged with using the license plates of a former National Socialist organization under Sections 86 and 86a of the Criminal Code.
On December 12, 2023, Höcke is said to have uttered the forbidden slogan of the Sturmabteilung (SA) of the NSDAP “Everything for Germany!” used again at an AfD event in Gera. The SA was the paramilitary fighting organization of the NSDAP.
According to the information, Höcke himself said the first part of the slogan “Everything for” as a speaker. He used gestures to encourage the audience to shout “Germany”. This was done with the certain knowledge that this slogan was punishable, it was said.
In addition, Höcke was known to have made the same statement Criminal proceedings had already been opened against him at the Halle (Saale) regional court. The AfD politician will have to answer in a criminal trial there from mid-April because he is said to have used the same SA slogan at an AfD rally in Merseburg (Saxony-Anhalt) in May 2021.
The two criminal proceedings are requested to be joined
The public prosecutor’s office (Saale), which is active in both cases, has requested that the two proceedings be combined and negotiated together. A decision from the Halle regional court is still pending, said a court spokeswoman for the epd news agency.
According to the public prosecutor’s office, Höcke has not yet commented on the new charges. He is presumed innocent until he is convicted.
The Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Thuringia classifies Höcke as a right-wing extremist. In Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, the AfD is considered right-wing extremist. Höcke is expected to run as the top candidate for the AfD in the Thuringian state elections on September 1st.