The "Nazi" dog: Update

Markus Meecham trained his girlfriend’s dog to perform Nazi salutes. In a YouTube video, Meecham explained why: “My girlfriend is always ranting and raving about how cute her dog is so I thought I would turn her into the least cute thing you could think of which is a Nazi.”

Meecham, a UK citizen known online as Count Dankula, was subsequently arrested, spent a night in prison, lost his job and was this week fined £800.

Now, Meecham may not be everybody’s cup of Irn-Bru, but he’s on solid ground when he argues that an obvious joke should not result in a conviction and financial penalty (were similar rules enforced in 1967, Mel Brooks would be in prison to this day).

Declining to pay his fine, Meecham launched a crowd-funding bid to finance an appeal, aiming for an ambitious total of £100,000:

This is the amount that has been quoted by my lawyer, the reason it has been quoted 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.

Little more than one day later, Meecham has raised more than £137,000 – the equivalent of $A252,000.

That’s the free market and free will rallying behind free speech. That’s people standing up to oppression.

SOURCE