Self-described Nazi becomes first person jailed in Australia for performing outlawed salute

Associated Press

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A self-described Nazi became the first person in Australia to be sentenced to prison for performing an outlawed salute when he was ordered by a magistrate on Friday to spend one month behind bars.

Jacob Hersant, 25, is also the first person in Victoria state to be convicted of giving the Nazi salute. The gesture has been outlawed nationwide since he committed the offense.

He was convicted in the Melbourne Magistrates Court last month of performing the straight-armed salute before news cameras outside the Victoria County Court on Oct. 27, 2023. Hersant had then just avoided a prison sentence for causing violent disorder. The Nazi salute had been outlawed by the state parliament days earlier.

Magistrate Brett Sonnet allowed Hersant to remain free on bail after he was convicted, until Friday, when he was sentenced to one month in prison.

But Hersant spent only an hour in custody before his lawyer, Tim Smartt, succeeded in a bail application after lodging an appeal against his conviction and sentence.

Hersant faced a potential maximum sentence of 12 months in prison plus a 24,000 Australian dollar ($16,025) fine.

Smartt said Hersant should not be jailed for a nonviolent act.

“It’s not justified sending a 25-year-old to prison. That is wrong,” Smartt told the magistrate.

Sonnet said a prison sentence was appropriate.

“If there was physical violence, then I would have imposed a sentence close to the maximum penalty,” Sonnet said. “The accused sought to promote Nazi ideology in the public arena and the court is satisfied he took advantage of the media to disseminate extreme political views.”

Hersant was a member of the National Socialist Network, an organization that promoted white supremacy, deportation of immigrants and far-right actors, Sonnet said.

While performing the salute last year, he praised Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and said, “Australia for the white man.”

Sonnet said his words were “clearly racist and seek to promote white supremacy in Australia.”

“Put bluntly, the white man is not superior to any other race of people,” Sonnet said.

Hersant’s lawyers had argued that his comments and salute were protected by an implied constitutional freedom of political communication.

On his way into court on Friday, Hersant maintained he had a right to express his political views.

“We’re going to argue that the law is constitutionally invalid and it’s emotional and it’s anti-white,” Hersant told reporters. “It’s my political view and I think it’s a good fight for us to have an argument in court saying these laws are invalid.”

Three men were convicted in June of giving the salute at a Sydney soccer game. Another three men were convicted last month of making the gesture outside the Sydney Jewish Museum. All were punished with fines.

Anti-Defamation Commission chair Dvir Abramovich, a leading opponent of antisemitism in Australia, said Hersant’s prison sentence should remind Nazi sympathizers that Australia shows “no mercy to those who bring symbols of terror to our streets.”

“This isn’t just a sentence — it’s a national roar that symbols of Nazism have no place on our soil,” Abramovich told reporters outside court.