Germany: the trial of an AfD leader, accused of chanting a Nazi slogan, resumes this Tuesday

Björn Höcke, leader of the AfD in Thuringia (central-eastern Germany), has been on trial since Thursday for having chanted a Nazi slogan during a meeting. The trial of the regional leader of this German far-right party, which resumes this Tuesday in Halle (Saxony-Anhalt, center of the country), is agitating the German press. The first day of hearing, last Thursday, opened in a chaotic atmosphere.

“Björn Höcke is a Nazi”, could we read on the signs of demonstrators, present on Thursday morning at the opening of the trial, reports the national daily Die Welt. Four and a half months before the elections in Thuringia, where the AfD has more than 30%, according to a survey by the MDR (German public broadcaster), the trial is particularly closely followed. In the courtroom, around fifty journalists came on Thursday to cover the event. AfD supporters were also present to support Höcke.

From the start of the hearing, his lawyers continued to interrupt the reading of the indictment, to multiply the requests. Their goal: to delay the continuation of the trial as much as possible. In particular, they asked to record the hearing because of its “historical dimension”, which the prosecutor refused. They tried to argue that the German Constitutional Court had more authority to judge the case in Merseburg (Saxony-Anhalt), where the facts occurred. “Scandalous” behavior, in the eyes of one of the prosecutors, Benedikt Bernzen.

During this first day of hearing, Björn Höcke has not yet spoken in court.

It was during an election meeting at the end of May 2021 in Merseburg, not far from Halle, that the leader of the AfD uttered these controversial words: “Everything for our homeland, everything for Saxony-Anhalt, everything for Germany ".

However, the last part of his sentence, “All for Germany” (in German: “Alles für Deutschland”) is formally prohibited in Germany. This slogan was used by the SA, a paramilitary formation of the Nazi Party during the 1930s. Uttering a slogan or displaying symbols of the Third Reich in public is punishable by up to three years in prison in Germany, according to Article 86 of the Penal Code.

A week before the start of the trial, Björn Höcke spoke on these accusations on multiple occasions, notably during a televised duel with CDU candidate Mario Voigt on the television channel Welt TV. Björn Höcke, who is a former history professor, claims that he did not know the connotation of this phrase and describes the expression “all for Germany” as a “catch-all slogan”.

A few days before this television appearance, he also spoke on his X account, where he claimed to have used this expression to “affirm his patriotism”.

Judgment in the trial is expected to be delivered on May 14.