A German court ruled yesterday that the sale of anti-Nazi products was not punishable even if the items contained the banned swastika symbol. The Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe supported the appeal of a man who was fined 3,600 euros ($4,757) last year by a Stuttgart court for selling a range of anti-Nazi t-shirts and badges bearing the swastika with a red line through it.Under German law, performing a Hitler salute, wearing Nazi uniform or displaying the swastika can carry the penalty of a fine or up to three years in prison.
Judge Walter Winkler ruled that the swastika ban did not apply for items that were clearly intended for anti-Nazi or anti-fascist purposes.
German politicians widely condemned the decision last September by Stuttgart judge Wolfgang Kuellmer to fine the man, who distributed the paraphernalia via a mail order service and a website.
Kuellmer had ordered the seizure of 16,500 pieces of merchandise, two palettes of brochures and around 8,400 publicity flyers bearing the logo – a red circle with a line across it superimposed on the Nazi emblem.
Kuellmer said increasing use of the symbol, which is popular among left-wing activists and anti-neo Nazi campaigners in Germany, risked making the Nazi hooked cross acceptable again over 60 years after it was outlawed after World War II.
Gulf Times
Good that this has been sorted though the judge that made the original decision needs a kick up the arse.
ReplyDeleteToo true.
ReplyDelete"Under German law, performing a Hitler salute, wearing Nazi uniform or displaying the swastika can carry the penalty of a fine or up to three years in prison."
Pity we haven't got the same law here. The BNP and all the other right wing lunatics would be stuck then.