Man convicted over dog’s Nazi salute raises £75k to appeal

A MAN fined £800 after he filmed a dog giving Nazi salutes and posted the footage online was yesterday nearing a £100,000 fundraising campaign target to appeal his conviction.

Mark Meechan, 30, recorded his girlfriend’s pug Buddha responding to statements such as ‘Gas the Jews’ and ‘Sieg Heil’ by raising its paw.

On Monday, he was fined – but immediately gave notice he was going to appeal both his conviction and sentence, arguing it set a ‘dangerous precedent’ and put limitations on free speech. A GoFundMe campaign was launched the following day and has raised more than £75,000.

Meechan, of Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, said he was prepared to go to jail.

The £100,000 target was set under advice from his lawyer, Ross Brown, who he says has told him the money will pay for ‘top representatives’ to take the case when it goes to appeal.

Meechan, pictured, claims he will be transparent with all funds raised. He said: ‘I was found guilty under Section 127 of the Offensive Communications Act 2003 due to me creating a clearly comedic video where I trained my girlfriend’s pug to be a Nazi.

‘The only way for the court to secure a conviction was to willingly ignore the clear context of the video, which was explained twice in the video.

‘This conviction will be used as an example to convict other people over the things they say and the jokes they make. It sets a standard where courts will be able to ignore the context and intent of a person’s words and actions in order to punish them and brand them as criminals.’

He added: ‘£100,000 is the amount that has been quoted by my lawyer. The reason it is so high is my lawyer wishes to bring in top legal representatives to ensure that we have the highest chance of reversing the standard that this case sets.

‘I cannot allow the two years of litigation I went through and having my life put on hold to happen to anyone else.

‘I will be 100 per cent transparent with these funds, all bills in regards to the case will be made publicly available.’

The original clip was viewed more than three million times on YouTube and sparked a debate over free speech, with comedians Ricky Gervais and David Baddiel defending Meechan.