Youtuber who filmed ‘Nazi’ dog has his appeal rejected
A YOUTUBER who trained his girlfriend’s dog to do Nazi salutes and was convicted of a hate crime in a landmark legal case has had his appeal rejected by the
Supreme Court.
Markus Meechan, 32, who uses the moniker Count Dankula, was prosecuted after teaching the dog, a pug named Buddha, to perform the offensive gesture.
He was convicted of a hate crime in communicating a video which was “grossly offensive” after denying the charge at a trial at Airdrie Sheriff Court.
In April 2018 he was given a fine of £800, and told to pay it within six months, which Meechan publicly stated he would refuse to do.
Meechan, of Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, taught his girlfriend’s pug to react to the words “gas the Jews” and filmed it for his Youtube channel in 2017, supposedly to annoy his girlfriend.
The pug was also seen raising a paw to fascist chant “Sieg Heil” during the footage called “M8 Yur Dug’s a Nazi” which was viewed more than three million times.
The case sparked a debate around freedom of speech with comedians such as Ricky Gervais speaking out on Meechan’s behalf, as well as attracting the attention of far-right leader Tommy Robinson who attended the trial in support.
Some £195,657 was raised on a Gofundme page to take the appeal to the Supreme Court – which rejected it, saying the appeal had “no merit”, according to Meechan.
The “comedian”, who has since married his girlfriend, is now considering taking it to the European Court of Human Rights.
He wrote: “As some of you may be aware, we petitioned to the UK Supreme Court to hear our case, a process that took very many months to hear back from and sadly we have received news back that they have refused to hear the case.
“The reason they cited is that my appeal ‘had no merit’ but as of yet, they have provided no information as to specifically why this is, I wish I had further information to give you as to specifically why they rejected the appeal, but sadly, they have provided no further explanation.
“After this step we have one final option, the European Court Of Human Rights. This process would again be very time- and fundconsuming and we are only considering going down this path, as in my personal view from freedom of speech cases I have seen handled by the ECHR in the past, they do not have the best track record.”