- Björn Höcke, a prominent figure in Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany party, is facing charges for the second time for using Nazi slogans.
- A trial has already been scheduled, and prosecutors aim to add this new charge to the trial.
- Mr. Hecke is influential in the party’s far-right wing and will lead the state election campaign.
Prosecutors announced Wednesday that one of the most prominent members of the far-right Alternative for Germany party has been charged with a second offense for uttering a slogan used by Nazi storm troops at a political event.
Björn Höcke was already scheduled to go on trial in Halle on April 18th. The Eastern City prosecutor’s office said it will seek to add new charges to these trials.
Hoecke, 52, heads the local branch of Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the neighboring state of Thuringia and is an influential figure in the party’s far-right wing. He will lead the campaign in the state election scheduled for September 1st.
German far-right politician goes on trial for using Nazi slogans
In a case already scheduled for trial, Mr. Hecke is charged with using the symbol of an unconstitutional organization. He is accused of ending his speech in Merseburg in May 2021 with the words “All for Germany!”
Candidate Björn Höcke of the far-right party Alternative for Germany attends the state elections in Erfurt on March 4, 2020. Prosecutors announced Wednesday that Hokke had been charged with a second offense for using a slogan used by the Nazis at a political event. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer, File)
Prosecutors claim he was aware the phrase had appeared as an SA slogan. They said Mr Hocke’s lawyer denied there was any “criminal relevance” to his words.
In the new lawsuit, prosecutors allege that he repeatedly violated the slogan “with some awareness of its potential punishment” at an AfD event in his hometown of Gera on December 12 last year. .
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They said in a statement that Mr. Hecke said, “It’s all for…” and urged the audience to shout “Germany!” Hocke has not yet responded to the latest charges, they added.
The AfD branch in Thuringia has a particularly extremist reputation and is considered a “proven right-wing extremist” group by Germany’s domestic intelligence services.
Hecke once called Berlin’s Holocaust memorial a “monument of shame” and called on Germany to make a “180-degree turn” in how it remembers its past. The party court at the time rejected a proposal to expel him.
National opinion polls in recent months have shown the AfD in second place behind the mainstream conservative opposition, and the party is particularly strong in the former communist east.
