Germany's highest court ruled Friday that a lower court did not violate the rights of an American neo-Nazi by convicting him of disseminating hate propaganda and sending him to prison for four years.
Gary Lauck, once German neo-Nazis' main source of anti-Semitic and xenophobic literature, was convicted by a Hamburg court last August of inciting racial hatred and other counts.Lauck filed an appeal, arguing his right to free speech had been violated. But the Federal Constitutional Court, Germany's equivalent of the U.S. Supreme Court, said without comment today it has rejected the appeal. Lauck's appeal was rejected by Germany's second-highest court in March.
For two decades, Lauck frustrated German law authorities by churning out hate material from his home in Lincoln, Nebraska, and sending it overseas.
As long as he was in the United States, Lauck was able to get around Germany's laws against fascist literature because he was protected by Americans' constitutional right to free speech.
Lauck, 44, became an idol to young German fascists who eagerly read his main publication, "NS Kampfruf," which means "Nazi Battle Cry."
Lauck's luck ran out in March 1995, when he was arrested in Denmark and extradited to Germany.