US neo Nazi leader Mr Gary Lauck went on trial yesterday in Hamburg, charged with inciting racial hatred by smuggling extreme right wing propaganda into Germany.
Prosecutors spent 1 1/2 hours reading the charge sheet which accuses Mr Lauck (42), from Lincoln, Nebraska, of 38 offences involving neo Nazi and anti Semitic literature.
Investigators say his National Socialist Workers' Party Foreign Organisation (NSDAP-AO) has exploited US freedom of speech laws for over two decades to become the main source of banned neo Nazi propaganda in Germany.
Mr Lauck's attorney, Mr Hans Otto Sieg, applied for his client, dubbed the "Farm belt Fuhrer" by US Nazi watchers, to be released from custody and for the trial to be halted.
The charges his client faced, said Mr Sieg, did not correspond to those on a warrant for his extradition from Denmark, where he was arrested in March last year.
Presiding judge Bertram Reuss said German law stated such objections should be considered only after the final submissions but agreed to discuss the matter with his four fellow judges.
Mr Lauck, sporting his trademark Hitler style moustache and wearing a blue suit, replied in fluent German to the judge's questions about his personal details.
Asked if he had any children, Mr Lauck replied: "Not as far as I know. I have a dog and two cats." He gave his profession as "management consultant".
Born on May 12th, 1953, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, of German origin parents, he regards himself as the spiritual son of Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's propaganda chief, and heads a party whose name is nearly identical to Hitler's.
From the age of 13 when he read Hitler's book Mein Kampf he has been attracted to Nazi ideology, even calling himself Gerhard rather than Gary and affecting a German accent when speaking English.
Mr Lauck stands accused of smuggling into Germany his neoNazi magazine NS Kampfruf (National Socialist Battle Cry) as well as armbands bearing swastikas and stickers with anti Semitic slogans.
Propagating Nazi material and symbols is illegal in Germany. But Mr Lauck's defence team say he has broken no US law and that prosecutors must prove he set out to import material to Germany.
In addition to the racial hatred charge, Mr Lauck faces charges of portraying violence and disseminating insignia and propaganda of anti constitutional organisations. He could face up to five years in prison if found guilty.