Neo-Nazi (illustration)
Neo-Nazi (illustration)Thinkstock

A 32-year-old German neo-Nazi was sentenced on Thursday to 18 months in prison for incitement after posting a picture of a miniature of the Auschwitz death camp on Facebook with an offensive caption, The Associated Press reports.

According to the news agency, Judge Manfred Weber at the district court in Hohenstein-Ernstthal in eastern Germany told the man "you made fun of Auschwitz survivors — that's very bad."

The sentence of the previously convicted neo-Nazi also took into consideration his earlier charge for criminal assault and the posting of a photomontage of Adolf Hitler in combination with a swastika and firecrackers.

The man from Glauchau in Saxony, whose name was not given in line with German privacy rules, can appeal the conviction.

Germany has strict laws on hate speech and symbols linked to Hitler and the Nazis.

Last August, German police arrested two Chinese tourists for making illegal "Heil Hitler" salutes in front of the historic Reichstag building.

The two men, aged 36 and 49, were detained after they were seen striking the Nazi-era pose and photographing each other with their mobile phones. They were charged with "using symbols of illegal organizations".

Holocaust denial is illegal in Germany as well. In November, a German court upheld two convictions of Ursula Haverbeck, who has been dubbed the “Nazi grandma”, for Holocaust denial and sentenced her to 14 months in prison.