MELBOURNE, Australia – A self-described Nazi became the first person in Australia to be sentenced to prison for making a banned salute when he was ordered by a magistrate on Friday to spend a 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 banned nationwide since he committed the offense.
He was convicted in the Melbourne Magistrates Court last month of performing the salute in front of news cameras outside the Victoria County Court on October 27, 2023. Hersant had just avoided a prison sentence for a conviction for causing violent disorder. Performing the Nazi salute had been banned by the state parliament days earlier.
Magistrate Brett Sonnet allowed Hersant to remain free on bail after sentencing until Friday, when he was sentenced to a month in jail.
He faced a maximum prison sentence of 12 months plus a fine of 24,000 Australian dollars ($16,025).
Hersant’s attorney, Tim Smartt, said the verdict would be appealed and that he would apply for bail in a higher court pending the appeal hearing.
Smartt said Hersant should not be in jail for a nonviolent act.
“It is not justified to send a 25-year-old to prison. That is wrong,” Smartt told the magistrate.
Sonnet said a prison sentence was appropriate.
“If there had been physical violence, I would have imposed a sentence close to the maximum penalty,” Sonnet said. “The accused attempted to promote Nazi ideology in the public arena and the court is convinced that he abused the media to spread extreme political views.”
Sonnet said Hersant was a member of the National Socialist Network, an organization that promotes white supremacy, deportation of immigrants and far-right actors.
As he gave 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 intended to promote white supremacy in Australia.”
“To put it bluntly, the white man is not superior to any other race of people,” Sonnet said.
Hersant’s lawyers had argued that his comments and greetings were protected by an implied constitutional freedom of political communication.
When he went to court on Friday, Hersant claimed he had the right to express his political views.
“We are going to argue that the law is constitutionally invalid, emotive and 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.”