A leading member of Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party with ambitions for higher office went on trial on Thursday for using a banned Nazi slogan, as hundreds demonstrated outside the courtroom against his party's policies.
The AfD chairman in the state of Thuringia, Björn Höcke, was in a regional court in the eastern city of Halle to face allegations that he knowingly used a banned slogan of the Storm Troopers (SA), the Nazi paramilitary fighting organization, during a speech in 2021.
A controversial figure within the AfD, Höcke is formally charged with using symbols of unconstitutional and terrorist organizations by pronouncing the words "Everything for Germany!"
Hundreds of people gathered outside the court building to protest Höcke and his party's policies. Police estimated that some 570 people attended the peaceful demonstration.
The protesters included the group "Halle gegen Rechts" (Halle against the right) and anti-fascist groups.
Motions by the defence occupied much of the court's time for the first three hours, angering prosecutors who denounced them as delay tactics.
Before indictment against Höcke could even be read out to the court, his lawyers requested that the trial be fully documented by an audio recording. The judge rejected the motion.
The defence also asked for Germany's Constitutional Court to step in and decide whether the trial should be held in Halle at all, a motion the judge also dismissed.
Höcke did not comment in court on the charges, and would make a statement later, one of his defence lawyers said as the first day of the trial in Halle concluded.
The next session is scheduled for Tuesday.
Ahead of the trial, Höcke, a former history teacher whose influence in the party belies his current job title, defended his choice of words and explained that he had not known what the phrase was about.
"It's a commonplace slogan," the firebrand politician told a TV programme.
Prosecutors, however, assert in their indictment that this argument is implausible.
Höcke is said to have used the SA slogan "Everything for Germany!" once in the town of Merseburg in Saxony-Anhalt in May 2021, which is the focus of the trial.
He is also accused of using the phrase during a speech in the city of Gera in Thuringia, and furthermore said to have encouraged his audience with gestures to join in shouting out the slogan.
The speech in Thuringia however will not be part of Thursday's proceedings, as Höcke's new legal team has not had time to prepare his defence regarding this speech.
According to a court spokeswoman, the possible penalty ranges from a fine to a prison sentence of three years.
The 52-year-old Höcke plans to stand as the party's top candidate in the central state of Thuringia in state elections on September 1. They are one of three elections in eastern German states in September where the AfD is expected to poll highly.
The anti-migration party has been classified as right-wing extremist in the state and is being monitored by the domestic intelligence service, officially known as the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.