Björn Höcke has tested the limits of what can be said several times - now he has to answer in court. The AfD politician did not testify on the first day of the trial. His lawyers failed with their motions.
Halle - Lawyers who are drumming up applications, but there is no movement from Thuringia's AfD leader Björn Höcke: The 52-year-old has had to answer before the Halle regional court since Thursday because he is said to have used Nazi vocabulary. The public prosecutor's office accuses him of knowing that the slogan "Everything for Germany" was a forbidden slogan of the Sturmabteilung (SA) of the Nazi party NSDAP, according to the indictment read out on the first day of the trial.
According to the accusation, Höcke is said to have used the symbols of unconstitutional and terrorist organizations. If convicted, the penalty ranges from a fine to three years in prison. The presumption of innocence applies until a possible conviction.
After public prosecutor Benedikt Bernzen read out the charges, the first day of the trial ended in the justice center in Halle. It was by no means certain that the indictment would be read out on Thursday. Höcke's lawyers submitted a number of applications - they even wanted to appeal to the Federal Constitutional Court. There were several interruptions to the hearing.
Even before Höcke sat down in the dock, demonstrators had gathered in front of the justice center. They stood on the sidewalk and street with posters in their hands that read, among other things, “Björn Höcke is a Nazi.” “All together against fascism” they chanted. As a police spokesman said on request, the demonstration was peaceful. The “Halle Against the Right” group, among others, called for this.
Björn Höcke is considered one of the most controversial politicians in Germany. The Thuringian AfD, of which he is chairman, is classified and monitored by the state Office for the Protection of the Constitution as definitely right-wing extremist. Höcke's speeches repeatedly came into discussion and he was repeatedly investigated. The trial in Halle is now the first trial that the North Rhine-Westphalia-born politician has to face. A second thing will soon be added: an indictment against him on charges of incitement to hatred has been admitted at the Mühlhausen regional court - there are no dates for the trial there yet.
The starting point for the charges against Höcke in Halle is a speech that he gave in May 2021 in Merseburg in Saxony-Anhalt (Saalekreis). He is said to have said: “Everything for our homeland, everything for Saxony-Anhalt, everything for Germany”. The then Saxony-Anhalt Green Party leader Sebastian Striegel filed a complaint against the AfD politician and referred to a report from the Bundestag's scientific service, according to which using the phrase "Everything for Germany" in a speech at a meeting is punishable. The Halle public prosecutor's office indicted him last year.
Even before the trial began, Höcke commented on the allegations on television - and defended his choice of words in a TV duel against the Thuringian CDU top candidate Mario Voigt. He used the slogan in a free campaign speech and ultimately translated Donald Trump's slogan “America First” into German in a freely interpreting way, he said on broadcaster Welt a week before the trial began. When asked whether he didn't know during the speech that "Everything for Germany" was an SA slogan, he said: "No, I didn't know." It was a common saying, said Höcke, who is a history teacher .
Höcke's defense wanted to ensure that all days of the trial were digitally recorded on tape before the actual main hearing began. The court rejected this - and stuck with it when the lawyers wanted to file an appeal. They requested a stay of the proceedings until the Naumburg Higher Regional Court made a decision on the complaint - in vain.
Höcke's defense attorney Ulrich Vosgerau also questioned the fact that the Halle regional court is responsible for the case and not the Merseburg district court. There had already been a legal dispute on this question beforehand. The public prosecutor's office referred to an unappealable decision by the Naumburg Higher Regional Court on this question. The responsible chamber followed this.
After the appearance in Merseburg, Höcke is said to have used the SA slogan again - at an appearance in Gera last December. At this point, the complaint about the speech in Merseburg and the investigation had long been a topic in the media. In Gera, as a speaker, Höcke is said to have said the first part “Everything for” himself and used gestures to encourage the audience to shout “Germany”. Initially, the indictment for this case was linked to the indictment for the speech in Merseburg. Before the first day of the trial began, the two cases were separated again, as a court spokeswoman explained. The reason for this is that Höcke's defenders changed at short notice.
Höcke himself had asserted about the appearance in Gera in the TV duel with Voigt that he wanted to point out “this absurdity,” “that you can say all sorts of shabby and defamatory things about Germany,” but if you demand “as a patriot,” “ “to give everything for this country” is in court.
According to current planning, there will be three more days of negotiations. According to the court, a decision should be made in mid-May. However, after the first day of the hearing, it is also conceivable that further dates will be added, according to court spokeswoman Adina Kessler-Jensch. dpa