WorldGerman far-right politician of the Alternative for Germany Bjrn Hcke arrives for a session of his trial over the alleged use of Nazi phrases, at the regional court in Halle, eastern Germany, on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. Hecke, one of the most prominent figures in the far-right Alternative for Germany party, went on trial last Thursday on charges of using a Nazi slogan, months before a regional election in which he plans to run to become his state's governor.
“I am in fact completely innocent,” he said. The former history teacher described himself as a “law-abiding citizen.”The 52-year-old Höcke is an influential figure on the hard right of Alternative for Germany, or AfD. He once called the Holocaust memorial in Berlin a “monument of shame” and called for Germany to perform a “180-degree turn” in how it remembers its past. A party tribunal in 2018