First person convicted of Nazi salute in Victoria gets one month in jail

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TRANSCRIPT
The first person in Victoria prosecuted for performing a Nazi salute has faced his day of judgement.
As Jacob Hersant arrived at the Melbourne Magistrates Court, he described himself as a ‘soldier of Hitler’.
In the face of his sentencing hearing, Mr Hersant was defiant he did not have remorse for breaking the law.
“It’s a political gesture, those are my political views, we should have a right to express ourselves politically in this country. And I think it’s a good fight to have an argument in the courts that these laws are invalid.”
The accused acted out the gesture in front of members of the media outside the state’s County Court last October.
The same month, laws in the state outlawing the act came into effect.
At the time, he had exclaimed: Australia for the white man and Heil Hitler.
Magistrate Brett Sonnett today criticised his conduct as clearly racist.
Freedom of Speech is not an absolute concept recognised in Australia, the magistrate said.
The white man is not superior to any other race of people.
Mr Hersant was described by the court as a figurehead of the Nationalist Socialist Network, which it says promotes White Supremacy.
His defence lawyer had pushed for leniency, telling the court his non-violent act does not justify sending a 25-year-old to prison.
But the magistrate was not swayed.
He said the accused had shown no remorse for his action and the court absolutely denounced the Nazi ideology.
Taken into custody briefly, he has since been released on bail until an appeal of his case can be heard.
Mr Hersant spoke out against the one-month sentence imposed.
“I am a National Socialist, I’m a Hitler soldier and I’ll continue to give the Roman Salute if I want to because these laws aren’t just going to be used against us they are going to be precedents for them to outlaw other ideologies.”
The maximum penalty for the crime is 12 months in prison.
Dr Dvir Abramovich is chair of the Anti Defamation Commission and a Jewish Community member.
He described the court’s verdict as justice delivered.
“Justice has spoken loud and fierce if you salute Hitler you will be saluting the prison walls because the message is very clear to every Neo Nazi you are on notice. if you decide to bring these terrors of symbol to our streets there’ll be no mercy and there will be no real future for you.”
The first test case of those new laws is now facing appeal.