Austrian Sentenced for Hitler Voice Mail
Austrian Man Gets to Two Months in Prison for Using Hitler Oath As Cell-Phone Voice-Mail Greeting
// The Associated Press
VIENNA, Austria Dec 22, 2005 A man who used an oath of loyalty to Adolf Hitler as the greeting for his cell-phone voice mail was sentenced to two months in prison Thursday for the offense, a crime in Austria.
The 20-year-old defendant, whose name was not released because of privacy laws, was convicted by a court in the alpine province of Tyrol, where police accidentally came across his phone message in 2004 when they called to question him about a burglary.
Prosecutors said the man had downloaded the slogan from the Internet and saved it on his cell phone as a message greeting callers when he was unable to answer. It said: "I swear unswerving loyalty to Adolf Hitler! I swear absolute obedience! Sieg Heil! Sieg Heil! Sieg Heil!"
The defendant had testified Thursday that the download was a "spontaneous act" and that he did not fully embrace the meaning of the oath.
The man was sentenced to a year in prison for theft and fencing stolen goods, but the court tacked on two extra months for using the oath, invoking a law that makes Nazi propaganda a crime in Austria.
"What nonsense!" the defendant said as he left the courtroom, the Austria Press Agency reported.
Austrian Man Gets to Two Months in Prison for Using Hitler Oath As Cell-Phone Voice-Mail Greeting
// The Associated Press
VIENNA, Austria Dec 22, 2005 A man who used an oath of loyalty to Adolf Hitler as the greeting for his cell-phone voice mail was sentenced to two months in prison Thursday for the offense, a crime in Austria.
The 20-year-old defendant, whose name was not released because of privacy laws, was convicted by a court in the alpine province of Tyrol, where police accidentally came across his phone message in 2004 when they called to question him about a burglary.
Prosecutors said the man had downloaded the slogan from the Internet and saved it on his cell phone as a message greeting callers when he was unable to answer. It said: "I swear unswerving loyalty to Adolf Hitler! I swear absolute obedience! Sieg Heil! Sieg Heil! Sieg Heil!"
The defendant had testified Thursday that the download was a "spontaneous act" and that he did not fully embrace the meaning of the oath.
The man was sentenced to a year in prison for theft and fencing stolen goods, but the court tacked on two extra months for using the oath, invoking a law that makes Nazi propaganda a crime in Austria.
"What nonsense!" the defendant said as he left the courtroom, the Austria Press Agency reported.
