Croatian sentenced

Hitler salute during argument with ex: “Wanted to provoke”

The court ordered the defendant to visit the Mauthausen concentration camp memorial.(Bild: Wolfgang Spitzbart)

A Croatian man (36) with a criminal record admitted to the charge of incitement to hatred at the trial on Monday: In an argument, he had shown the Nazi gesture and allowed himself to be filmed doing so. In addition to the suspended sentence, he must visit the concentration camp memorial in Mauthausen.

The defendant (36) in particular should know better, as he was already in the jury courtroom of the regional court at the end of 2018 on the same charge: Reactivation under the Prohibition Act 3g. Now, on Monday, he admitted to engaging in National Socialist activities. "He gave the Hitler salute twice to the ex with a corresponding speech," explained the public prosecutor and emphasized: "That is already enough for re-activation." The whole thing happened on 14 December 2023 in an apartment in Golling: the father of two had argued with his partner at the time.

Defendant filmed making a Nazi gesture
He even asked her to film him making the Nazi gesture. "That was a mistake, of course. I would like to apologize. There were so many emotions involved, I just wanted to provoke, that was wrong," explained the Croat with a criminal record.

And he distanced himself from National Socialism. The video was also "embarrassing and unpleasant" for him. One judge was surprised: "We have already spent three days hearing about the Prohibition Act. Why can't you think of anything other than these typical Nazi slogans?" The defendant simply replied: "I'm not like that, I regret it."

He agreed to an educational visit to the concentration camp memorial in Mauthausen. As he had also committed other crimes (including violent crimes) at the time of the offense and had already served a sentence and pre-trial detention for these, he was now given an additional six months' suspended prison sentence. The sentence is already final.