<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A man who </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/three-men-found-guilty-fined-for-nazi-salute-outside-jewish-museum/415da274-7492-435c-97b0-5c491bf3805d" rel="" target="_blank" title="performed a Nazi salute near a Jewish museum"><span>performed a Nazi salute near a Jewish museum</span></a><span> and then claimed he was copying comedian Ricky Gervais has had his conviction and fine wiped away.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Anthony Raymond Mitchell, 33, performed a Nazi salute and goose-step with two co-workers near the Sydney Jewish Museum in October 2023.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The salute, seen on the museum's CCTV by a security guard, came days after Hamas militants killed 1200 Israelis and took hundreds more hostage in southern Israel, sparking the latest outbreak of war in Gaza.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/bunnings-warehouse-rolling-out-ev-charges-at-select-stores-across-three-australian-states-and-in-new-zealand/85be9221-cb56-4557-bd6c-e1775a1fa74b"><strong><span>Bunnings rolls out new feature in carparks</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>At the time, the construction workers were on their lunch break and walking back to their van.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>When interviewed by police, Mitchell said he was mimicking a Netflix performance and realised "those who were not familiar with the Ricky Gervais skit could take the actions in a certain way".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Mitchell and his co-workers each argued the gestures were a joke but were found guilty of offensive behaviour and knowingly displaying Nazi symbols without excuse by a magistrate in October.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/national/appeal-success-for-nazi-salutes-outside-jewish-museum/f7c97c57-e4fd-4f2d-a116-05b77f6eb0cf" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The case tested laws prohibiting the display of Nazi symbols, introduced by the NSW parliament in 2022 and carrying a maximum penalty of 12 months' jail, an $11,000 fine or both.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Re-running the case in the District Court on appeal, the trio's lawyers argued that the gestures should not fall within the definition of displaying a Nazi symbol.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But that was rejected by Judge Craig Smith on Friday.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/israel-iran-strikes-live-updates-fears-of-retaliatory-strikes-in-middle-east-conflict/0e4f35e3-4af3-4876-a2b9-e8927b505709"><strong><span>Iran 'launches more than 100 drones toward Israeli territory'</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"They are immediately recognised as being associated with that regime and period of history," he said in the Downing Centre court.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>There was no reasonable excuse for the trio's actions to be performed outside the museum, he said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>While the new law allowed the Nazi symbol to be displayed for academic, educational, artistic or other public interest purposes, the tradies' actions were "nothing of the sort", Judge Smith said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Lawyer Bryan Wrench, representing one of Mitchell's co-workers Daniel Muston, told the court that the actions occurred within a split second, and were not planned.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"There is no Nazi ideology behind this," he said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Muston, 42, had completed a tour of the museum since his conviction in an attempt to educate himself on Jewish culture and history, Wrench said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Judge Smith accepted Mitchell, Muston and the third man - Ryan Peter Marshall, 31 - did not have any connection with the hateful ideologies underlying the Nazi party.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But he upheld a magistrate's guilty findings against all three men and the decision to record a conviction against Marshall and Muston.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Mitchell's conviction was however scrubbed from his record with the judge accepting he did not know he was outside the Jewish museum, unlike his co-workers.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I've been persuaded to a different position for Mr Mitchell," Judge Smith said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Mitchell was handed a nine-month good behaviour bond in place of the conviction.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The judge also reduced Muston's fine from $1000 to $500, labelling it as "excessive".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The original $1500 fine for Marshall, the instigator of the salutes, was kept in place.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The judgment follows the arrest of two men in February for unfurling a Nazi flag at a pub near the Sydney Jewish museum, and the jailing in November of a far-right extremist and self-proclaimed "Hitler soldier" in Melbourne.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a 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