A self-described Nazi on Tuesday became the first person convicted in the Australian state of Victoria of performing an outlawed Nazi salute.
Jacob Hersant, 25, gave the salute and praised Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in front of news media cameras outside the Victoria County Court on October 27, 2023, after he had appeared on an unrelated charge.
It was six days after the Victoria state government had made the 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.
A Melbourne magistrate found Hersant guilty, dismissing defence lawyers’ arguments that the gesture was not a salute and that the ban unconstitutionally infringed upon his implied freedom of political communication.
Hersant is scheduled to be sentenced on Wednesday and could face 12 months in prison and a fine.
Three men were convicted in June of performing the Nazi salute during a soccer match in Sydney on October 1, 2022. New South Wales state had banned Nazi symbols in 2022. They were each fined and have appealed.
Hersant told reporters outside court that he would consider an appeal to a higher court.
He said he did “not necessarily” acknowledge that he had given a Nazi salute when he was filmed by media cameras a year ago.
“But I do give the Nazi salute and I am a Nazi,” Hersant said. “I’ll still continue to give the salute, but hopefully police officers don’t see it.”
Anti-Defamation Commission chair Dvir Abramovich, a leading opponent of antisemitism in Australia, said the verdict filled him with a profound sense of relief.
“This is a historic and thundering day for justice and decency,” Mr Abramovich said.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel