Self-described Nazi will be sent to prison for salute at sentencing next month

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A self-described Nazi will become the first person in Australia sentenced to prison for performing an outlawed Nazi salute when a magistrate sets his term next month.

Magistrate Brett Sonnet told Jacob Hersant on Wednesday he will be sentenced to a “relatively modest term of imprisonment” at his next court appearance. “It will not be a severe term of imprisonment, but I have not determined the length,” Sonnet said.

Sonnet initially intended for Hersant to be taken into custody on Wednesday until his sentence was set on Oct. 23.

But after hearing arguments from defense lawyer Tim Smartt, Sonnet allowed the 25-year-old to remain free on bail until a sentencing hearing on Nov. 8.

The maximum potential sentence is 12 months in prison plus a 24,000 Australian dollar ($16,177) fine.

Hersant gave the salute and praised Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in front of news media cameras outside the Victoria County Court on Oct. 27, 2023. Hersant had just avoided a prison sentence on a conviction for causing violent disorder.

He gave the gesture six days after the Victoria state government made the Nazi salute illegal. The Federal Parliament passed legislation in December that outlawed nationwide performing the Nazi salute in public or to publicly display, or trade in, Nazi hate symbols.

Hersant became the first person convicted under the Victorian law when Sonnet found him guilty on Tuesday following a hearing in the Melbourne Magistrates Court.

Smartt had suggested a AU$1,500 ($1,012) fine, saying the behavior was not at the serious end of the crime.

But prosecutor Daniel Gurvich disagreed. Gurvich described the offending as serious and called for a prison sentence.

Gurvich noted that Hersant told media after he was convicted on Tuesday that, “I’ll still continue to give the salute, but hopefully police officers don’t see it.”

Sonnet told Smartt he was only punishing Hersant for making a Nazi gesture that he knew was illegal.

“I want to emphasize that I’m not punishing your client for holding his political views,” Sonnet said.

“He’s entitled to hold those political views however unpalatable, however offensive they may be to others,” Sonnet added.

Usual mitigating factors including remorse, a guilty plea and a lack of any previous criminal history were absent in Hersant’s case, Sonnet said.

Asked by a reporter during the court’s lunch break if he had anything to say in what then could have been his last moments of freedom, Hersant replied, “I regret nothing.”

“I’m prepared to go to jail for my beliefs,” Hersant told reporters.