UK YouTuber who trained girlfriend's pet pug to give Nazi salutes has appeal rejected - Markus Meechan, 32, taught his girlfriend's pug to react to the words "gas the Jews" and other anti-semitic sentences and was convicted of a hate crime


"I have posted an update to the gofundme, sadly, the Supreme Court has rejected my appeal. We are currently seeking counsel with an expert on the ECHR and will post further updates once we have further information."


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A YouTuber who trained his girlfriend's dog to give Nazi salutes and was convicted of hate crime has had his appeal rejected by the Supreme Court.

Markus Meechan, 32, who uses the nickname Count Dankula, was prosecuted after teaching the dog, a pug named Buddha, to perform the offensive gesture.

He was convicted of a hate crime in communicating a video which was "grossly offensive" after denying the charge at a trial at Airdrie Sheriff Court.

In April 2018 Meechan was given a fine of £800 and was told to pay it within six months, but he publicly stated he would refuse to do so.

Meechan, of Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, taught the pug to react to the words "gas the Jews" and filmed it for his YouTube channel in 2017, supposedly to annoy his girlfriend.

The dog was also seen raising a paw to fascist chant "Sieg Heil" during the footage called "M8 Yur Dug's a Nazi" which was viewed more than three million times.

The case created a debate around freedom of speech, with comedians such as Ricky Gervais speaking out on Meechan's behalf.

Far-right leader Tommy Robinson attended the trial in support.

About £195,657 was raised on a GoFundMe page to take the appeal to the Supreme Court, which rejected it saying it had "no merit", according to Meehan.

The man, who has since married his girlfriend, is now considering taking the case to the European Court of Human Rights.

He wrote: "As some of you may be aware, we petitioned to the UK Supreme Court to hear our case, a process that took very many months to hear back from and sadly we have received news back that they have refused to hear the case.

"The reason they cited is that my appeal "had no merit" but as of yet, they have provided no information as to specifically why this is.

"After this step we have one final option, the European Court Of Human Rights.

"One hundred per cent of the remaining funds that are left over after legal fees have been paid WILL be donated to charity, I refuse to shift on that stance.

"Ideally I would like to see the funds go to a children's hospital."
 
The Scottish judiciary and Police got a massive fright when Dankula turned up to court with a proper solicitor.

A lot of the hate crime prosecutions in the UK are based on the fact that most accused will only ever have access to a duty solicitor (who they'll often never meet and just talk to over the phone). They take a caution from the Police, or go to court and plead guilty with a fine.

The police and judiciary like hate crimes, because the conviction rate is high, and usually the accused actually have jobs and lives, and in turn something to lose. So they'll turn up to Police interviews, attend court etc. Which is unusual for the British Criminal justice system.

That's why the judge in the case had a go at Dankula's Solicitor, not because he did anything wrong but because he was actually raising genuine legal questions, instead of just going through court room theater like most solicitors would. (they pretend to argue aggressively, while not causing any additional work for the judge).

The judge in that case was able to deny Dankula's initial appeal to a higher court, which is why he had to go straight to the supreme court.

Anyway the ECHRC, case will drag on for years. I doubt they'll ever agree to hear it.
 
Buddha is still alive and it had a cameo on Count Dankula's latest video.
I'm surprised the media hasn't demanded the death penalty for the dog. Surely the dog's ideas are far more dangerous then the most violent of pit bulls who attack children.

The Scottish judiciary and Police got a massive fright when Dankula turned up to court with a proper solicitor.

A lot of the hate crime prosecutions in the UK are based on the fact that most accused will only ever have access to a duty solicitor (who they'll often never meet and just talk to over the phone). They take a caution from the Police, or go to court and plead guilty with a fine.

The police and judiciary like hate crimes, because the conviction rate is high, and usually the accused actually have jobs and lives, and in turn something to lose. So they'll turn up to Police interviews, attend court etc. Which is unusual for the British Criminal justice system.

That's why the judge in the case had a go at Dankula's Solicitor, not because he did anything wrong but because he was actually raising genuine legal questions, instead of just going through court room theater like most solicitors would. (they pretend to argue aggressively, while not causing any additional work for the judge).

The judge in that case was able to deny Dankula's initial appeal to a higher court, which is why he had to go straight to the supreme court.

Anyway the ECHRC, case will drag on for years. I doubt they'll ever agree to hear it.
For those who watched Deep Space 9, I have never seen a court case that more closely imitates a cardassian show trial. The guilt of the accused is so thoroughly presumed beforehand that even his own lawyer is expected to not represent him, but rather to advocate to the court how sorry he is and how enthused he is to embrace the punishment that has already been predetermined.
 
Britbongs eternally blown the fuck out.

The United Kingdom is doomed to become a shattered realm and a footnote in history akin to the Timurids or any other forgotten, bygone empire no one has ever heard of.
At least the Timurid Empire didn't go out nearly as pathetically as the UK seems to be going right now. The sun is truly about the set on the United Kingdom.
 
@Ginger Piglet Get in here solicitor, explain this reasoning.

I hope (very optimistically) those rumours of Johnson looking to dismantle/alter the UKSC after they pulled the political decision regarding proroguing parliament does come true should he win the election. It's another holdover from Blair's time. If somehow the Communist wins, then mass flight will ensue.
Do we have a thread on the exceptional nation that is the UK?
Yes - British Mega Thread.
 
The average person being seriously affected.

I think that's the thing, here. While the whole thing is a farce, and the consequences of such a law are obvious, it's pretty hard for the average person to get too terribly outraged. Not a lot of people are going to look at a situation like this and think, "That could be me", since they aren't terribly likely to try anything even kinda similar to this. They might not care if someone else does it, either, but they've probably got more important things to worry about.
 
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