By Clare Sibthorpe
A young man has denied making a Nazi salute during a soccer match and labelled the accusations “disgusting”, in the first high-profile case testing new laws banning the hate symbol in public.
Dominik Sieben, 24, told a court he was simply holding a beer in one hand and cheering on his team with the other and TV footage “twisted” what happened.
Dominik Sieben allegedly made the salute at a Sydney Australia Cup final match between Sydney United 58FC and Macarthur FC in October 2022.Credit: Channel 10
Sieben was charged alongside 45-year-old Nikola Marko Gasparovic and 44-year-old Marijan Lisica with knowingly displaying a Nazi symbol in public without reasonable excuse, at the Australia Cup final match between Sydney United 58 FC and Macarthur FC at CommBank Stadium on October 1, 2022. The men were not known to each other.
The legislation passed through NSW Parliament in mid-2022 and could lead to someone being jailed for one year.
The three men were charged with the offence after Sydney United supporters complained about the alleged action.
Police allege Channel Ten footage of the live broadcast and CCTV security footage caught the men making the Nazi salute, and they combed through the footage before charging them months later.
All three pleaded not guilty in April last year and faced the first half of a two-day hearing at Parramatta Local Court on Monday.
Dominik Sieben leaves Parramatta Local Court after appearing over allegations he performed a Nazi salute at the 2022 Australia Cup soccer final in Sydney. Credit: Wolter Peeters
Body-worn footage of NSW Police’s Sergeant Aaron Turner dated February 18, 2023, and played to the court showed Sieben answer the door and say to the officer-in-charge: “Oh bro’, do I have some stories for you.”
Turner introduced himself and explained he was inquiring about an incident relating to displaying the Nazi symbol at the soccer match, adding that Sieben was not under arrest nor obliged to answer any questions.
Sieben said it was a long story but “the whole thing was disgusting, what was accused of me”.
“It had nothing to do with Nazis ... nothing to do with the Hitler crap or any of that crap ... it was blown out of proportion so much,” he said.
He told Turner he had a beer in one hand and his other hand was up in the air at the very moment the camera panned towards him, which “twisted the entire thing … it made me look like something I’m not”.
Sieben, who said he was Croatian, told police he was simply cheering on Sydney United, but couldn’t chant with both hands.
Sydney United 58 FC is based in Edensor Park in Sydney’s west, and was formed by Croatian Australians as Sydney Croatia in 1958. In 1993, it was renamed Sydney United after briefly having the name Sydney CSC.
In the body-worn footage, Sieben told Turner that, when he saw his face on the news, he spoke to a lawyer about suing the media but was deterred by the cost and the fact a defamation case would attract more publicity.
Marijan Lisica (left) and Nikola Gasparovic (right) are also accused of making the hate symbol at the match.Credit: Wolter Peeters
“My friends know I’m not like that; they know my personality ... It [having more publicity] would ruin my business, my name … What’s the point of going to sue all these channels for it just to be brought up in the media again?”
Sieben said he would never go to a soccer game again even though he loved the sport.
“I went to a good Catholic school [and learnt] about Jesus and stuff … to paint me as some Nazi is completely untrue,” he said.
Sieben told Turner he had several Jewish friends, who “literally laughed” when he showed them the edited footage.
Sydney United fans at Allianz Stadium performing a popular chant in which their hands are raised.Credit: Getty Images
A police prosecutor told the court Lisica wore army camouflage and was seen doing the Nazi salute in CCTV footage, not on TV.
The court heard Gasparovic carried a “World War II era Nazi” flag at the match.
The court was told a man shown in CCTV footage played to the hearing was Sieben. About 7.30pm, the man was seen wearing a white and red chequered shirt, with a Sydney United flag wrapped around his neck. He appeared to raise his hand in the air in a straight line with his palm facing down, before lowering his arm again. The footage then showed security guards walk up and speak to the man.
The court was then shown separate CCTV footage that allegedly showed Lisica make the Nazi salute.
Before the first day of the hearing wrapped up, footage of Gasparovic’s interview inside a police station was played.
Gasparovic admitted to putting his hand in the air, and answered a series of questions in which he agreed the Nazi salute was hateful and prejudicial towards a group of people, but denied knowingly making the hate symbol.
He told police he was celebrating the team and Croatian culture.
Central to determining all three men’s guilt, the court heard, was whether displaying the salute as alleged was displaying a Nazi symbol as described in the new legislation.
The Crown prosecutor submitted their actions did constitute a Nazi symbol and told magistrate Joy Boulos that, if she agreed, the other elements of the case would not be disputed.
Boulos said the judgment would come down to statutory interpretation.
The hearing continues.
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