Austrian Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner, left, Resistance fighter Katharina Sasso and Chancellor Werner Faymann attend a March 12, 2013 unveiling of a plaque honoring Austrians killed by the Nazis. (Hans Punz/AP)
A policeman in Austria was sentenced Thursday for shouting “Heil Hitler” at a Hungarian driver during a traffic check at the border with Hungary in April.
A Vienna court handed the officer a nine-month suspended jail term after finding him guilty of “re-engagement with National Socialism” — a crime in Austria that has been punishable by up to 10 years in prison since 1947.
The 29-year-old was denounced by a colleague who had witnessed the incident at the Nickelsdorf border checkpoint in Burgenland state, on April 27.
The accused had stopped the Hungarian driver and greeted him with the phrase “Heil Hitler,” according to the prosecution.
The policeman denied the charge, insisting his colleague had misunderstood him.
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An anti-Islam rally in Austria in February 2015. (Screen capture: AFP)
Last year, Austrian police charged eight participants in the country’s first protest against perceived “Islamization” with yelling “Heil Hitler!” and other actions that contravene Austria’s anti-Nazi laws.
Beyond shouting slogans, police spokesman Roman Hahslinger said some suspects flashed the Hitler salute or other gestures associated with the Nazis during last month’s demonstration, which was modeled after Germany’s PEGIDA movement.
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