An Austrian man has been sentenced to 19 months in prison for tattooing a swastika on his testicle – breaching a law that prohibits the glorification of Nazism.
The 29-year-old alleged neo-Nazi from the Austrian town of Sankt Veit an der Glan went on trial in the city of Klagenfurt on 8th June.
In addition to his tattoo, he was found to have posed for photos with Nazi material at the Bunker Museum Wurzenpass, drank Hitler-branded wine, and posted Nazi propaganda online.
The court heard how he drank almost two bottles of whiskey before his brother tattooed the banned symbol on his scrotum.
He is said to have posted a photo of the tattoo online on one occasion, and shown his army colleagues the tattoo on another occasion when he was heavily drunk following a drill.
The suspect, who was not named because of local privacy laws, has a criminal record, having previously been sentenced to two years in prison for deliberate aggravated bodily harm following a brawl at a festival in his hometown.
He was sentenced to 19 months in prison for the glorification of Nazism and illegal firearm possession.
The suspect expressed remorse during the trial, claiming he was both “sorry” and “embarrassed” for his past actions.
He told the court: “I just got in with bad company. For us, anything that wasn’t allowed was something we gravitated towards, but we all underestimated enormously how much a mistake this was.”
It was only when the investigation of his tattooed testicle started that he realised what “nonsense” the Nazi glorification was.
He added: “Other than that, I can’t give any reasonable explanation for why I did it.”
He also claimed he had stopped associating with the far-right eight years ago and stopped drinking heavily since his stint behind bars.
He also said the tattoo was no longer visible.
His lawyer, Franz Zimmermann, has said he will appeal the sentence.
Austria’s National Socialism Prohibition Act of 1947 mandates prison sentences for those who try to revive or glorify organisations resembling the Nazi party.
