The first person charged with performing the Nazi salute in Victoria has been found guilty of the offence.<\/p>\n
Jacob Hersant, 25, stared straight ahead as a magistrate, Brett Sonnet, handed down his decision on Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n
Sign up for Guardian Australia\u2019s breaking news email<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Hersant pleaded not guilty to performing the salute on 27 October 2023, about six days after Victorian laws banning the gesture<\/a> came into effect.<\/p>\n Video played to the Melbourne magistrates court showed Hersant performing the salute in front of journalists and camera crews outside the county court.<\/p>\n He was then captured saying \u201cnearly did it \u2013 it\u2019s illegal now\u201d and \u201cAustralia for the white man, heil Hitler\u201d, before walking away, the court heard.<\/p>\n Hersant claimed he had not performed the salute and, even if he had, the charge was constitutionally invalid as the gesture was a legitimate form of political expression.<\/p>\n But Sonnet found Hersant intentionally performed a gesture that so nearly resembled a Nazi salute that it could have been viewed as such.<\/p>\n