BERLIN (AP) 鈥 Prosecutors said Wednesday that they have charged one of the most prominent figures in the far-right Alternative for Germany party with a second count of uttering a slogan used by the Nazis' SA stormtroopers at a political event.
Bj枚rn H枚cke was already scheduled to go on trial in Halle on April 18. Prosecutors in the eastern city said they would seek to have the new count added to those proceedings.
H枚cke, 52, is the leader of the regional branch of Alternative for Germany, or AfD, in the neighboring state of Thuringia and an influential figure on the party's hard right. He is set to lead its campaign in set for Sept. 1.
In the case already scheduled for trial, H枚cke is charged with using symbols of unconstitutional organizations. He is accused of ending a speech in Merseburg in May 2021 with the words 鈥淓verything for Germany!鈥
Prosecutors contend he was aware of the origin of the phrase as an SA slogan. They have said H枚cke鈥檚 lawyers denied that his words had any 鈥渃riminal relevance.鈥
In the new case, prosecutors allege that he repeated the offense at an AfD event in Gera, in his home state, on Dec. 12 last year, 鈥渋n certain knowledge of the punishability鈥 of the slogan.
They said in a statement that H枚cke said 鈥淓verything for ...鈥 and encouraged the audience to shout 鈥淕ermany!鈥 H枚cke hasn't yet responded to the latest charges, they added.
AfD鈥檚 branch in Thuringia has a particularly radical reputation and is viewed by Germany鈥檚 domestic intelligence agency as a 鈥減roven right-wing extremist鈥 group.
H枚cke once called the Holocaust memorial in Berlin a 鈥渕onument of shame鈥 and called for Germany to perform a 鈥180-degree turn鈥 in how it remembers its past. A party tribunal at the time to have him expelled.
春色直播 polls in recent months have shown AfD in second place behind the mainstream conservative opposition, and the party is particularly strong in the formerly communist east.
