A young man told police he was upset because the media “twisted” a photo of him to make it look like he was giving the Nazi salute at a major football final, a court has been told.
Nikola Marko Gasparovic, Dominik Sieben and Marijan Lisica separately attended the Australian Cup final between Sydney United 58 and Macarthur on 1 October 2022.
Parramatta Local Court was told on Monday that all the men are of Croatian origin and are keen Sydney United fans.
The three men were separately captured performing the ‘Hitler salute’ on CCTV and in a Channel 10 broadcast of the game.
The men are fighting one charge each of knowingly displaying at a public event a Nazi symbol without reasonable excuse at a hearing before Magistrate Joy Boulas, in which body footage was played showing an interview with Sieben months after the alleged incident.
Dominik Sieben (circled, above) is accused of performing a Nazi salute, but claims he was just singing while drinking a beer.
Police approached Sieben at his Sydney address in February 2023, four months after the incident, for questioning.
The 25-year-old, who describes himself as a cameraman, can be seen standing on the doorstep of his home wearing a gray Tommy Hilfiger jumper alongside his mother.
After meeting Detective Sergeant Aaron Taylor, Sieben tells the police that he has a “long story” for them.
“Long story short, I went to lawyers… it was disgusting, the whole thing, everything I was accused of,” Mr. Sieben told police.
The 25-year-old told police he had a beer in one hand and was trying to cheer on his team with his other arm.
“Everyone was singing… the media took my picture and completely twisted it and made me look like someone I’m not,” she said.
“It had nothing to do with Hitler’s rubbish… none of that rubbish… was exaggerated to such an extent.”
Sieben’s mother is seen filming the police with her iPhone before they warned her that she had to ask permission.
Police launched an investigation after a very intense Australian Cup final between Sydney United 58 and Macarthur FC last October (pictured, fans at the match)
He showed Taylor footage of other fans singing in the crowd, explaining that he couldn’t use two arms because he was holding a beer.
In the images, Sieben explained that a cameraman was taking a panoramic view of him from a “low angle.”
“I think honestly… (the media) misrepresented the whole thing,” he said.
His mother intervened in the police interview to describe the media as “crazy”, saying she would “love” for the journalists responsible to “lose” their jobs.
Sieben told police he had “eight or nine” Jewish friends.
“I see two or three of them regularly,” he said in the footage.
“When they saw it, they literally laughed.”
The three men are completely unknown to each other, and the court previously reported that they had been charged under “new” New South Wales laws.
Supporters of the semi-professional club were widely condemned for their actions after the match, leading to an investigation by New South Wales Police with detectives poring over hours of broadcast and CCTV footage.
The court was told that Gasparovic, 46, and Lisica, 45, sang a chant associated with a Croatian far-right movement.
The legal action against Sieben and two other men, neither of whom are known, is the first high-profile case brought under an anti-Nazi law introduced in New South Wales in 2022 (pictured, fans at the final of the Australian Cup 2022).
A police prosecutor told the court that Lisica was wearing military camouflage, while Gasparovic was carrying a World War II-era Nazi flag.
Meanwhile, the court was told that Sieben, 25, was wearing a red and white T-shirt, while he had the Croatian flag hanging like a cape around his neck.
The three men were interviewed before being charged with knowingly displaying at a public event a Nazi symbol without a reasonable excuse.
Police prosecutor Jarrod Imlay told the court this was “novel” legislation introduced in 2022.
It is the first high-profile case in which a person has been charged with the crime.
Anyone found guilty of the crime of displaying a Nazi symbol without excuse faces a maximum penalty of 12 months in prison and/or a fine of $11,000.
The prosecutor told the court that the key issue at the hearing will be whether the salute constitutes a Nazi symbol, since it is not defined in the law.
“It will be a matter of your honor to determine beyond a reasonable doubt whether the defendant’s actions are a Nazi symbol,” he said.
Ms. Boulos will have to determine whether the elements of the accusation have been satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt and whether the men “knowingly” behaved in a particular manner.
The hearing continues before Judge Boulos.