The Halle regional court has sentenced AfD politician Björn Höcke to a fine of 100 daily rates of 130 euros for using the symbols of unconstitutional and terrorist organizations.
The right-wing extremist was accused of knowingly using a banned Nazi saying in May 2021. At the end of a speech in Merseburg (Saxony-Anhalt) he said: “Everything for our homeland, everything for Saxony-Anhalt, everything for Germany.” The third part of the triad is a forbidden slogan of the Sturmabteilung (SA), the paramilitary fighting organization of the NSDAP. The Halle public prosecutor’s office accused Höcke of knowing about the origin and meaning of the slogan.
The politician and former history teacher rejected the allegations in court. If he had known what the SA slogan “Everything for Germany” was about, the 52-year-old claimed, he “certainly wouldn’t have used it.”
However, the speech in Merseburg is not the only occasion on which Höcke used the SA slogan or parts of it. He will probably have to return to the dock in Halle because he is said to have spoken the first part “Everything for” himself in Gera in December and 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.
Höcke wants to run again in September
The AfD politician gets off relatively lightly with the verdict. Höcke could have even been sentenced to three years in prison for using the banned SA slogans. With a sentence of at least six months, the court could have declared as a side effect that Höcke would be denied active and passive eligibility as well as his ability to hold office.
The AfD politician is running as his party’s top candidate in the state elections in Thuringia on September 1st. His regional association is classified as definitely right-wing extremist by the local Office for the Protection of the Constitution.