HALLE, Germany (Reuters) -A leading member of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party appeared in court on Thursday, charged with using a banned Nazi paramilitary slogan, in a trial just months before a state election he hopes to win.
Bjoern Hoecke, head of the AfD in the eastern state of Thuringia, is part of the nationalist wing of the AfD, officially designated by the domestic intelligence agency as “right-wing extremist”.
The case comes at a time when the AfD, running second in national polls behind the opposition conservatives, is under scrutiny over reports that some senior party figures had discussed the deportation of people with non-ethnic German backgrounds.
About 300 protesters gathered outside the court in the eastern city of Halle holding placards with the words: “Bjoern Hoecke is a Nazi” before he entered a packed court room with a slight smile, carrying files and dressed in a dark suit.
After some delays due to tight security, his lawyers addressed the court.
Prosecutors say Hoecke ended a campaign speech in the eastern town of Merseburg in May 2021 with the words “Everything for Germany!”. This phrase is banned in Germany as it was a slogan used by Nazi SA stormtroopers.
His lawyers argue he did not know the words were banned and Hoecke himself, a history teacher, said last week in a television debate he was unaware of the origin of the phrase and says this case is about free speech.
He has also been charged with using the term at a party event in December in Gera when, prosecutors argue, he said: “Everything for..” before using gestures to encourage his audience to say the last word for him, aware that he faced prosecution for finishing the phrase himself.
In Germany, the use of slogans and symbols linked to anti-constitutional groups, including the Nazi party, is illegal.
If convicted, Hoecke could face a fine or prison sentence of up to three years and may also be barred from public office.
Hoecke is an influential figure in the AfD which has shifted to the right since it was founded as an anti-euro party in 2013. He has hit the headlines repeatedly over his views, and a court has said he can be described as a fascist. He is also facing a separate trial over suspected incitement to hatred.
In 2018, he called the Holocaust memorial in Berlin a “monument of shame” and has said Germans need to reverse the way they look at their past and adopt a more positive approach. He was banned from entering the Buchenwald concentration camp in 2017 due to his revisionist views.
In the state of Thuringia, where AFD is the frontrunner in polls on about 30%, the party may win most votes in a Sept. 1 election. But so far no other party has been prepared to cooperate with it, so it is unclear how it could form a coalition government.
(Reporting by Tilman Blasshofer and Timm Reichert and Fabrizio Bensch; Writing by Madeline Chambers; Editing by Philippa Fletcher and Hugh Lawson)
