A regional lawmaker from the AfD, Ramona Storm, is facing trial over a video she posted showing an elderly man performing a Hitler salute during a protest.
The footage, recorded at a demonstration organized by “Rhine-Main stands up,” features the man, a counter-protester, raising his left arm in the forbidden Nazi gesture while mimicking a Hitler mustache with his other hand. According to Storm, the individual was clearly positioned against the demonstrators.
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Storm shared the clip with a caption identifying the man as an opponent of the citizens’ initiative “Citizens’ Initiative Franconia,” urging viewers to “look closely.”
Her decision to make the video public triggered legal action. Prosecutors claimed she violated Section 86a of the Criminal Code, which prohibits displaying symbols associated with unconstitutional or terrorist organizations.
The state parliament lifted Storm’s immunity, and she was hit with a penalty order requiring her to pay €24,000 ($28,000) and receive a criminal record.
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Storm chose to challenge the penalty in court. A hearing was set to take place yesterday, July 21st, but was postponed.
In a press statement ahead of the proceedings, Storm condemned what she views as an abuse of legal power. “The best proof that JD. Vance absolutely hit the mark with his speech, which our system representatives were so terribly outraged about,” she wrote, referring to the US Vice President’s recent comments about the dangers of eroding free speech and describing the judicial treatment she’s received as “quite a long way from a constitutional state.”
The man in the video, the one actually performing the gesture, has already had his case dropped. The 83-year-old retired teacher avoided trial after agreeing to complete 30 hours of community service.
According to Apollo, in court, he explained that his actions were intended as a “warning” against what he described as “fascism in a new guise,” his interpretation of the protest movement. He emphasized his long history of activism against conservative politics.
While Storm now prepares to defend herself in court for publishing the video, the man whose actions triggered the controversy walks away with no criminal record.
