HALLE (SAALE), Germany, May 14, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - One of Germany's most
controversial politicians from the far-right AfD party on Tuesday faces a
court verdict on whether he deliberately used a Nazi slogan at a rally.

Bjoern Hoecke, 52, is in the dock for using the Nazi slogan "Alles fuer
Deutschland" ("Everything for Germany") during a 2021 campaign rally.

Once a motto of the so-called Sturmabteilung paramilitary group that played a
key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power, the phrase is illegal in modern-day
Germany, along with the Nazi salute and other slogans and symbols from that
era.

The former high school history teacher claims not to have been aware that the
phrase had been used by the Nazis, telling the court he is "completely not
guilty".

Hoecke said he thought the phrase was an "everyday saying".

But prosecutors believe Hoecke used the phrase in full knowledge of its
"origin and meaning".

Current leader of the AfD in Thuringia, Hoecke is gunning to become Germany's
first far-right state premier when the state holds regional elections in
September.

If convicted, Hoecke faces up to three years in prison. However, presiding
judge Jan Stengel signalled early on in the trial that the court considered a
fine to be an appropriate penalty should Hoecke be found guilty.

- 'Memorial of shame' -

The trial is one of several controversies the AfD is battling ahead of EU
elections in June and regional elections in the autumn in Thuringia,
Brandenburg and Saxony.

Founded in 2013, the anti-Islam and anti-immigration AfD saw a surge in
popularity on its 10th anniversary last year, seizing on concerns over rising
migration, high inflation and a stumbling economy.

But its support has wavered since the start of this year, as it contends with
scandals including allegations that senior party members were paid to spread
pro-Russian positions on a Moscow-financed news website.

Considered an extremist by German intelligence services, Hoecke is one of the
most controversial AfD personalities, having called Berlin's Holocaust
monument a "memorial of shame" and urged a "180-degree shift" in the
country's culture of remembrance.

Hoecke stands accused of using the banned slogan at an election rally in
Merseburg in the Saxony-Anhalt state in the run-up to Germany's 2021 federal
election.

He had also been due to be tried on a second charge of shouting "Everything
for..." and inciting the audience to reply "Germany" at an AfD meeting in
Thuringia in December.

However, the court decided to separate the proceedings for the second charge,
announced earlier this month, because the defence had not had enough time to
prepare.

Prosecutor Benedikt Bernzen on Friday underlined the reach of Hoecke's
statement, saying that a video of it had been clicked on 21,000 times on the
Facebook page of AfD Sachsen-Anhalt alone.

Hoecke's defence Philip Mueller argued however that the event was an
"insignificant campaign event" and that the offending statement was only
brought to the public's notice by the trial.

Germany's domestic security agency has labelled the AfD in Thuringia a
"confirmed" extremist organisation, along with the party's regional branches
in Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt.