By Erin Pearson
A Neo-Nazi on a warning that he was facing jail time for performing a Nazi salute was allegedly part of a group who dressed in Ku Klux Klan costumes and intimidated young women in a hardware store car park.
Jacob Hersant was on Friday jailed for one month, but then released on appeal bail, after a magistrate found he had shown no remorse for performing a Nazi salute outside the County Court building in October 2023.
Jacob Hersant outside court after being released on bail on appeal on Friday.Credit: Justin McManus
Hersant, 25, was the first person in Victoria charged with performing the Nazi salute, six days after the gesture was outlawed by law.
A hearing in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Friday heard that while awaiting sentencing, Hersant was interviewed by police over a Halloween stunt outside a Bunnings store in Port Melbourne on October 31.
He was questioned following a police “day of action” against the neo-Nazi National Socialist Network (NSN) over allegations of grossly offensive public conduct.
Three other members of the group were also arrested this week, including Thomas Sewell, 31, who appeared in court on Friday supporting Hersant.
Hersant’s supporters, Joel Davis (left) and Thomas Sewell, speak to the media outside court on Friday.Credit: Justin McManus
A police spokesperson said Hersant is expected to be charged on summons over the Port Melbourne incident, while Sewell was released pending further inquiries.
In court on Friday, Hersant’s lawyer Timothy Smartt argued his client should be shown mercy over the “non-violent act” last year, when he performed the Nazi salute and said “Heil Hitler”.
Smartt said jailing his client would be a crushing sentence compared to those handed to other offenders interstate, which had resulted in fines.
But magistrate Brett Sonnet said Hersant remains a figurehead of the NSN, which promotes far-right activity, white supremacy and involuntary deportation, and his act was “egregiously offensive” to many.
“The court denounces the accused’s conduct,” Sonnet said.
“In Australia, as with most liberal democratic countries around the world, freedom of speech is not an unlimited right.”
Sonnet said he did not seek to punish Hersant for his political views, but rather his breach of the law.
In imposing his sentence, Sonnet highlighted the atrocities of war committed under Adolf Hitler’s reign in Germany before and during World War II, which resulted in the deaths of up to 80 million people.
“The embodiment of modern political evil,” Sonnet quoted from historian and biographer Ian Kershaw.
“The Nazi regime was a catastrophic failure.”
Outside court, Hersant, who had pleaded not guilty to the charge, said he planned to continue his fight all the way to the High Court. Smartt has offered to represent him for free.
Along with Sewell, Hersant’s supporters in court included fellow NSN members Nathan Bull and Joel Davis.
While refusing to answer questions about the number of members his organisation currently had, Sewell said the group was expanding and planned more action.
Last month, the NSN was behind two public protests where men dressed in black, most with their faces covered, rallied in the NSW regional town of Corowa, and at Docklands.
In Docklands, police pepper-sprayed the group when they tried to disrupt refugee protesters’ 100th night outside the Department of Home Affairs offices demonstrating against those left in limbo waiting for permanent visas to be approved.
Victorian government minister Gabrielle Williams on Friday declined to comment specifically on Hersant’s case, but said the state’s laws sent “a clear message that this behaviour is utterly unacceptable”.
“People should be held accountable for hate crimes. It’s as simple as that,” she said.
Anti Defamation Commission chairman Dvir Abramovich said sentences should truly reflect the gravity of such “vile” actions.
“Justice has spoken – loudly and fiercely. If you salute Hitler, you’ll end up saluting the prison walls and today Jacob Hersant felt the iron fist of justice,” he said.
“We didn’t just make history or win a case – we buried the Nazi salute under the weight of justice, and I say good riddance.”
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