Jacob Hersan is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday and could face 12 months in prison and a fine.

A self-described Nazi on Tuesday became the first person convicted in the Australian state of Victoria of performing an outlawed Nazi salute.

Jacob Hersant, 25, gave the salute and praised Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in front of news media cameras outside the Victoria County Court on Oct. 27, 2023, after he had appeared on a unrelated charge. It was six days after the Victoria state government had made the salute illegal.

The Federal Parliament passed legislation in December that outlawed nationwide performing the Nazi salute in public or to publicly display, or trade in, Nazi hate symbols.

A Melbourne magistrate found Hersant guilty, dismissing defense lawyers’ arguments that the gesture wasn’t a salute and that the ban unconstitutionally infringed upon Hersant’s implied freedom of political communication.

  • flubba86@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    How the heck is he 25? Dude has bushy old-man eyebrows and greying hair. He looks 55, not 25.

    • chatokun@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      While I agree on him, some people do grey early. I started around 15 or so, and my father around 13. I still think some of his other features make him seem older as well though, like the eyebrows you mentioned.

    • tlou3please@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      I’m in my 20s and always thought I was aging pretty badly but jeez yeah he fully looks mid to late 40s. A good mid to late 40s but definitely no younger if I were to guess.