A 25-year-old man, Jacob Hersant, became the first person in Australia to be sentenced to prison for performing a Nazi salute. On Friday, Hersant was ordered by a Melbourne magistrate to serve one month in jail after he was convicted of making the gesture outside the Victoria County Court in October 2023.
Hersant’s action came just days after the state parliament outlawed the Nazi salute. The convicted man had previously avoided jail after being found guilty of causing violent disorder. However, his performance of the salute outside the court on October 27 led to his subsequent conviction.
Hersant’s defense lawyer, Tim Smartt, announced plans to appeal the sentence, arguing that a prison term for a non-violent act was unjust. “It’s wrong to send a 25-year-old to prison for this,” Smartt said. Despite the defense, Magistrate Brett Sonnet deemed a prison sentence necessary, stating that Hersant used the media to spread Nazi ideology and extreme political views.
Hersant, a member of the National Socialist Network, a far-right white supremacist group, also praised Adolf Hitler and made racist comments, including the phrase “Australia for the white man.” Magistrate Sonnet emphasized that such rhetoric promoted white supremacy and was harmful to Australian society.
Hersant’s legal team argued that his actions were protected under constitutional freedom of political communication, but the court disagreed, finding the law banning the Nazi salute valid.