NAZI PUG MAN GETS £100k WITHIN HOURS
.. but he says he won’t pay a penny of £800 fine for teaching girlfriend’s pet to do salute
A MAN fined £800 after he filmed a pet dog giving Nazi salutes has raised more than £100,000 to appeal his conviction.
Mark Meechan posted a video online of his girlfriend’s pug, Buddha, raising its paw in response to him saying “Sieg Heil”.
The 30-year-old, who posts on YouTube as Count Dankula, was found guilty of a hate crime under the Communications Act and fined on Monday.
In his latest video, Meechan, of Coatbridge, said he is refusing to pay the £800 and had set up an online GoFundMe page to pay for his appeal.
It passed £100,000 within hours.
He said: “I am no criminal, I have committed no crime, I’ve done nothing wrong therefore I should not be punished.
“My form of protest is to refuse any punishment that the judge gives me. I owe the court £800. I’m not f***ing paying it.”
Meechan said he was appealing because his conviction “will be used as an example to convict other people over the things they say and the jokes they make”.
He added: “Me having a criminal record and paying an £800 fine is an irrelevance.
“What matters is the precedent this case sets.
“Whenever anyone says something that might be unsavoury, the court gets to decide the context and can punish you for it. That’s Stalinist.
“We need to get the best that money can buy so we can go to the High Court and nuke this precedent. This precedent needs to go.”
Meechan’s video also showed Buddha watching a speech by Hitler and reacting to “gas the Jews”.
Airdrie sheriff Derek O’Carroll said it was “grossly offensive and contained menacing, anti-Semitic and racist material”.
Former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson supported him at court.
Comedians including Ricky Gervais and David Baddiel also backed Meechan.
I owe the court £800. I’m not f***ing paying it. MARK MEECHAN