A Victorian man has been found guilty of performing an illegal Nazi salute last October days after the gesture was banned in the state.
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00:00This case centers around some laws which were passed in October last year, and as you mentioned,
00:07performing the Nazi salute was something that became illegal in Victoria.
00:11Now, a few days after those laws were passed, some neo-Nazis were in the county court in
00:17Victoria.
00:18One of them was a guy called Jacob Hasson, and after those men left the courtroom, they
00:23were being interviewed by reporters, and Hasson actually lifted up his arm in what was, you
00:29know, quite an apparent Nazi salute.
00:31He said, Hail Hitler, and made some other sort of anti-Semitic comments.
00:36Police very quickly swooped on this and charged him with breaching those laws, and he became
00:42the first person in the state to be charged under these offenses.
00:47Hasson fought the charges, and his lawyers appeared in the magistrate's court here in
00:52Melbourne.
00:53They argued that what he did wasn't actually a full Nazi salute, and they also argued
01:00that the laws themselves were constitutionally invalid.
01:04Now, today in court, Magistrate Brett Sonnett gave a summary of his decision, which apparently
01:10stretches to 184 pages, but essentially what the magistrate said was that Jacob Hasson
01:18had performed a salute.
01:19He knowingly did so.
01:21He was in clear breach of this legislation, and the magistrate also said that the laws
01:26were constitutionally valid, and he said laws banning Nazi salutes and other Nazi ideology,
01:38those laws were needed to protect vulnerable members of the community.
01:43Outside court, Jacob Hasson was pretty unapologetic.
01:46He said he would continue to do the Nazi salute.
01:49He just hoped that the police wouldn't catch him, and he also said he was considering his
01:53appeal options.
01:54And what's been the reaction to the ruling, Christian?
01:58Well, Roz, so far Jewish advocacy groups have said that this is a great result.
02:05Obviously, it's a pretty sensitive time at the moment with everything going on in the
02:09Middle East, and even looking back into the historical past, that Nazi salute carries
02:17with it a lot of meaning and a lot of pain for many people.
02:21The Victorian Premier, Jacinta Allen, also welcomed the decision this morning.
02:25She said that these laws were passed for this exact reason, to make sure that these kind
02:30of hateful symbols and messages weren't being spread in the community.
02:34As for the case now, well, it's up to the magistrate to sentence Jacob Hasson.
02:40There is a bit of a process involved in that.
02:43The maximum penalty for performing a Nazi salute in public is actually $23,000 or 12
02:50months in jail.
02:52It's yet to be seen whether the penalty for Mr Hasson will be anywhere near that, but
02:57he'll return to court tomorrow for the start of that sentencing process.
03:01Roz?