A far-right extremist will be released from court on bail on appeal after spending less than an hour in custody for performing a Nazi salute in public.
Jacob Hersant, 25, was sentenced to a month in prison on Friday after becoming the first person in Victoria to be prosecuted for the offence.
He arrived at Melbourne Magistrates Court ready to go behind bars after a magistrate previously indicated prison was the only appropriate sentence.
“I’m ready to go to prison,” he told reporters as he appeared in court.
However, less than an hour after being sentenced, he was released on bail on appeal.
Hersant is the first Victorian to be convicted of intentionally performing the Nazi salute in public, since .
On October 27, 2023, Hersant raised his arm in salute to reporters and camera crews outside the county courthouse, six days after state laws banning the gesture took effect.
Hersant, who has pleaded not guilty, was filmed saying: “I almost did it – it’s illegal now” and “Australia for the white man, heil Hitler” before walking away.
Magistrate Brett Sonnet found Hersant guilty in October, saying he had done the act intentionally.
On Friday, he sentenced Hersant to a month in prison despite last-minute arguments from his lawyer, Tim Smartt, that he was exercising his “free speech.”
“Freedom of expression is not an absolute concept recognized in Australia,” Sonnet said.
Sonnet said Hersant’s Nazi salute was “racist and sought to promote white supremacy” and believed it was a serious example of that offense.
“The court must denounce this behavior absolutely,” Sonnet said.
Immediately after the prison sentence was handed down, Smartt reported that Hersant would appeal his sentence and conviction in the county court and requested bail for his client.
Sonnet adjourned the trial and Hersant was taken into custody before being brought back and released on bail on appeal.
He will leave court on Friday with bail conditions including that he cannot leave Australia or contact prosecution witnesses.
