Overview
- Berlin prosecutors filed charges on Monday accusing Moosdorf of using the banned gesture during a parliamentary session in June 2023.
- Investigators say he greeted a party colleague near the Reichstag’s east entrance with a heel click and Hitler salute and ensured it was visible to others.
- Public use of Nazi symbols and gestures is a criminal offense in Germany that can carry up to three years in prison.
- Moosdorf denies the allegation, saying he was checking his wife’s coat in the cloakroom and calling the case a fabricated political spectacle.
- Moosdorf, 60, represents Zwickau for the AfD, which Germany’s domestic intelligence has classified as a right‑wing extremist organization, and he was removed from a party foreign‑policy role in May over pro‑Russia concerns.