The Albany Gazette - Verdict expected in trial of German far-right firebrand

Bjoern Hoecke, 52, is in the dock for using the Nazi slogan "Alles fuer Deutschland" ("Everything for Germany") during a 2021 campaign rally.

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

The former high school history teacher claims not to have been aware that the phrase had been used by the Nazis, telling the court he is "completely not guilty".

Hoecke said he thought the phrase was an "everyday saying".

But prosecutors believe Hoecke used the phrase in full knowledge of its "origin and meaning".

Current leader of the AfD in Thuringia, Hoecke is gunning to become Germany's first far-right state premier when the state holds regional elections in September.

If convicted, Hoecke faces up to three years in prison. However, presiding judge Jan Stengel signalled early on in the trial that the court considered a fine to be an appropriate penalty should Hoecke be found guilty.

- 'Memorial of shame' -

The trial is one of several controversies the AfD is battling ahead of EU elections in June and regional elections in the autumn in Thuringia, Brandenburg and Saxony.

Founded in 2013, the anti-Islam and anti-immigration AfD saw a surge in popularity on its 10th anniversary last year, seizing on concerns over rising migration, high inflation and a stumbling economy.

But its support has wavered since the start of this year, as it contends with scandals including allegations that senior party members were paid to spread pro-Russian positions on a Moscow-financed news website.

Considered an extremist by German intelligence services, Hoecke is one of the most controversial AfD personalities, having called Berlin's Holocaust monument a "memorial of shame" and urged a "180-degree shift" in the country's culture of remembrance.

Hoecke stands accused of using the banned slogan at an election rally in Merseburg in the Saxony-Anhalt state in the run-up to Germany's 2021 federal election.

He had also been due to be tried on a second charge of shouting "Everything for..." and inciting the audience to reply "Germany" at an AfD meeting in Thuringia in December.

However, the court decided to separate the proceedings for the second charge, announced earlier this month, because the defence had not had enough time to prepare.

Prosecutor Benedikt Bernzen on Friday underlined the reach of Hoecke's statement, saying that a video of it had been clicked on 21,000 times on the Facebook page of AfD Sachsen-Anhalt alone.

Hoecke's defence Philip Mueller argued however that the event was an "insignificant campaign event" and that the offending statement was only brought to the public's notice by the trial.

Germany's domestic security agency has labelled the AfD in Thuringia a "confirmed" extremist organisation, along with the party's regional branches in Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt.

(O.Garcia--TAG)