Guilty of hate crime, man who trained pug to give a Hitler salute
A MAN who filmed a pet dog giving Nazi salutes and put the footage on YouTube has been convicted of committing a hate crime.
Mark Meechan, 30, who was supported in court by a farRight activist, Tommy Robinson, recorded his girlfriend’s pug, Buddha, responding to statements such as ‘Gas the Jews’ and ‘Sieg Heil’ by raising its paw.
But after complaints about the video, which was viewed more than three million times after it was uploaded to YouTube in April 2016, he was arrested.
Meechan, of Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, denied any wrongdoing at Airdrie Sheriff Court. He insisted he had made the video to annoy his girlfriend Suzanne Kelly, 29.
However, Sheriff Derek O’Carroll found him guilty under the Communications Act of posting a video which was grossly offensive because it was ‘anti-Semitic and racist’ and aggravated by religious prejudice.
The sheriff said he did not believe Meechan had made the video only to annoy his girlfriend, but that Meechan had put the footage on YouTube to drive traffic to other material he had on the website.
He added: ‘In my view it is a reasonable conclusion that the video is grossly offensive.
‘The description of the video as humorous is no magic wand.
‘This court has taken the freedom of expression into consideration. But the right to freedom of expression also comes with responsibility.
‘The accused knew that the material was offensive and knew why it was offensive. Despite that, the accused made a video containing anti-Semitic content and he would have known it was grossly offensive to many Jewish people. He said he chose “Gas the Jews” as it was the most offensive phrase associated with the Nazis he could think of. It was the centrepiece of the joke.
‘He said it was so extreme that it added to the comedy.’
Sheriff O’Carroll deferred sentence until April 23 for background reports and a restriction of liberty assessment.
In the video, the dog is seen perking up when it hears the statements and appears to lift its paw to the ‘Sieg Heil’ command. It is also filmed watching Hitler at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin.
Ross Brown, defending, said Meechan had intended the video to be seen by only a small group of friends. He said the material had been leaked and gone ‘viral’ but Police Scotland then wrongly pursued Meechan, despite his later videos trying to ‘set the record straight’.
He said: ‘His girlfriend testified that Mr Meechan had never made known to her any anti-Semitic views. The accused possesses tolerant and liberal views.’
Outside court, Meechan, a first offender, said: ‘We are going to appeal. There has been a miscarriage of justice.
‘I think it is a very dark day in regards to freedom of speech.’
Mr Robinson said: ‘This is the intelligence services, this is the government, this is the police cracking down and silencing free speech on people who are not even allowed to tell jokes. [Comedian] Frankie Boyle has said far worse.’
After the verdict, comedian Ricky Gervais tweeted: ‘If you don’t believe in a person’s right to say things that you might find “grossly offensive”, then you don’t believe in freedom of speech.’
‘He knew it was grossly offensive’