German constitutional court confirms Nazi jargon conviction

Germany's Federal Constitutional Court has confirmed lower courts' verdicts which convicted a man to pay a € 3,000 (US$ 3,600) penalty for publicly offending a prominent Jewish person. The constitutional court decline to hear a case brought by an official of the right-wing party "Republikaner", who in a press release in 2000 had called the then vice president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany Michel Friedman "Zigeunerjude" ("Gypsy Jew"). The court said the term was inflammatory Nazi jargon. Its use is banned under German law except for historical or theatrical purposes. The offender had printed his pamphlet in November 2000 after Friedman issued an appeal for Germans to stand up against neo-Nazism.