MELBOURNE, Australia — A self-proclaimed Nazi was ordered by a magistrate on Friday to spend a month in jail, becoming the first person in Australia to be jailed for illegal saluting.
Jacob Hersant, 25, is also the first person in Victoria to be convicted of giving the Nazi salute. Since his crime, the gesture has been banned nationwide.
Last month he was convicted in the Melbourne Magistrates Court of saluting in front of news cameras outside the Victoria County Court on October 27, 2023. Days earlier, the state Legislature had outlawed the Nazi salute.
District Judge Brett Thornette allowed Hussant to remain on bail following his conviction until Friday, when he was sentenced to one month in jail.
He could face up to 12 months in prison and a fine of 24,000 Australian dollars ($16,025).
Hersant’s lawyer Tim Smart said he would appeal the verdict and apply to the High Court for bail pending an appeal hearing.
Smart said Hessant should not be in jail for a non-violent act.
“It’s unreasonable to send a 25-year-old to prison. It’s wrong,” Smart told the magistrate.
Sonnet said a prison sentence was appropriate.
“If there was physical violence, then I would impose a sentence closer to the maximum penalty,” Sonnett said. “The defendant sought to promote Nazi ideology in the public sphere and the court is satisfied that he used the media to spread extreme political views.”
Sonnet said Hussant was a member of the National Socialist Network, a group that promotes white supremacy, deportation of immigrants and far-right elements.
During a salute last year, he praised Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and said: “Australia is a white man’s country.”
Sonnett said his comments were “clearly racist and an attempt to promote white supremacy in Australia”.
“Quite frankly, white people are not superior to any other race,” Thornette said.
Hesant’s lawyers argued that his remarks and tributes were protected by the constitution’s implicit freedom of political communication.
Hessant insisted on his way to court on Friday that he had the right to express his political views.
“We’re going to argue that this law is constitutionally invalid and is emotive and anti-white,” Hessant told reporters. “That’s my political opinion and I think it’s a disservice to us to argue in court that these laws are invalid. It’s a good fight.”
