Summary
Jacob Hersant, a self-described Nazi, was sentenced to one month in prison, becoming the first person in Australia jailed for performing an outlawed Nazi salute.
Convicted in Victoria for making the salute outside a courthouse in October, Hersant’s act followed new legislation banning the gesture.
Magistrate Brett Sonnet justified the sentence, citing Hersant’s intent to promote Nazi ideology publicly.
Hersant’s lawyer argued that his actions were nonviolent and claimed they were protected as political expression, stating plans to appeal the ruling on constitutional grounds.
I have not once heard of legislation here that genuinely violated people’s rights other than Victoria’s snap lockdown of a group of apartment buildings during COVID, which got the government into a class action lawsuit.
Saying you value free speech, then saying that people who can violate others rights should also have freedom of speech in that regard, seems like you don’t know anything about what free speech is all about.