3 Italians sentenced after fascist salute at military cemetery

Three men in Italy have each been given a six-month suspended prison sentence for making the fascist salute at a German military cemetery, reported dpa.

The Rome Court of Appeal found the defendants, aged between 50 and 60, guilty in the second instance, the Italian news agency ANSA reported on Sunday. The first trial had ended with an acquittal.

The three men from the southern Italian town of Cassino had already marched to the military cemetery there in 2017. During their performance, they shouted "Honour to the fallen of the German ally and the [Italian] Social Republic."

There is a propaganda video of the incident that quickly made the rounds on the internet. More than 20,000 soldiers are buried in Cassino. The battle for Monte Cassino in 1944 was one of the longest of World War II, lasting four months.

The fascist salute - a raised right arm - is not generally banned in Italy. The gesture, known in Italy as the "Roman salute," can be seen time and again at right-wing events.

Just a few days ago, hundreds of participants at a neo-fascist meeting in Rome raised their arms in the air. The police are investigating.

In Germany, the gesture is known as the Hitler salute. The Nazis adopted it from Italy's fascists under dictator Benito Mussolini in the 1920s.