Nine months in prison were required against a German judge on Monday in Sarreguemines (Moselle), for having erected in 2017 a stele to the glory of Nazi soldiers on his land. The Criminal Court will issue its decision on March 23.
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In Germany, the 36-year-old defendant " is very well known by the intelligence services as being a neo-Nazi activist, a far-right activist " belonging to the small group of white supremacists Hammerskins, said the prosecutor, Jean-Luc Jaeg. He demanded " 18 months in prison, including nine months suspended " against the thirties, married and father of a child, for " apology for war crime ". The prosecutor on the other hand asked for the release for " apology for crime against Humanity ".
The defendant's lawyer, Martial Gagneux asked for the procedure to be declared null and void, believing that his client could not be prosecuted " for two separate offenses ". On the merits, he pleaded for release, dismissing the German's wish to praise the Nazi crimes. " I would like to remain silent, " said the defendant, shaved and tattooed skull, accompanied by a translator, at the opening of the proceedings. He faces five years in prison and a 45,000 euro fine.
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During the investigation, he explained that he erected a stele on land belonging to him in Volmunster (Moselle), on October 30, 2017, to pay tribute to a friend, soldier of the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division, who died six months earlier, and " To his fallen friends during the war which he (he) often spoke about ". He had denied that he wanted to glorify unity as a whole. The stele, bearing the inscription in German " In honor of the killed soldiers belonging to the 17th SS Panzer Division. 'Forward, let's go, through' ”was visible from a municipal road.
" It glorifies the feats of arms of a unit which came to massacre us and it even recalls (its) currency! ", Strangled Simon Burkatzki, lawyer for Licra, civil party with the Communist Party and the association of Orphans of fathers Despite us from Alsace and Moselle. Reported by a walker, the 80 cm by 60 cm concrete block had been removed on January 4, 2018 by the gendarmes. Witnesses had reported observing rallies on this ground.
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