Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Mark Meechan believed his sentence set a "really, really dangerous precedent" 
 
 A man who filmed a pet dog giving Nazi salutes before putting the footage on YouTube has been fined £800. 
 
 Mark Meechan, 30, recorded his girlfriend's pug, Buddha, responding to statements such as "Sieg Heil" by raising its paw. 
 
 The clip was viewed more than three million times on YouTube. 
 
 Meechan, of Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, was sentenced at Airdrie Sheriff Court after being found guilty of committing a hate crime last month. 
 
 He had denied any wrong-doing and insisted he made the video, which was posted in April 2016, to annoy his girlfriend. 
 
 But Sheriff Derek O'Carroll found him guilty of a charge under the Communications Act that he posted a video on social media and YouTube which was grossly offensive because it was "anti-Semitic and racist in nature" and was aggravated by religious prejudice. 
 
 Image copyright Press Team Image caption Meechan with his girlfriend's pug, Buddha 
 
 Fining Meechan £800, the sheriff told him: "The centrepiece of your video consists of you repeating the phrase 'Gas the Jews' over and over again as a command to a dog which then reacts. 
 
 "You use the command Sieg Heil, having trained the dog to raise its paw in response and the video shows a clip of a Nuremberg rally and a flashing image of Hitler with strident music. You say the video was only intended as a joke to upset your girlfriend, whose dog you used, and nothing more. 
 
 "On the whole evidence..I found it proved that the video you posted, using a public communications network, was grossly offensive and contained menacing, anti-Semitic and racist material." 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption WATCH: 'Nazi pug' video-maker has no regrets 
 
 He added: "The fact that you claim in the video, and elsewhere, that the video was intended only to annoy your girlfriend and as a joke and that you did not intend to be racist is of little assistance to you. 
 
 "A joke can be grossly offensive. A racist joke or a grossly offensive video does not lose its racist or grossly offensive quality merely because the maker asserts he only wanted to get a laugh." 
 
 Meechan was supported in court by by Tommy Robinson, former leader of far-right group the English Defence League (EDL). 
 
 Speaking after being fined, Meechan - who posts under the name Count Dankula - said he would be appealing the sentence. 
 
 Image copyright PA Image caption Meechan waved to supporters as he emerged from court 
 
 Image caption Supporters staged a free speech protest outside court 
 
 He defended the video, saying the whole point of the "joke" was "the juxtaposition of having an adorable animal reacting to something vulgar". 
 
 Meechan said: "This is a really dangerous precedent to set - for people to say things and their context to be completely ignored and then they can be convicted for it. 
 
 "You don't get to decide the context, other people don't get to decide the context, the court decides. That's dangerous." 
 
 Image copyright PA Image caption Tommy Robinson, former leader of far-right group the English Defence League, supported Meechan in court 
 
 There was a demonstration outside court by protesters claiming the case went against the principle of freedom of speech. 
 
 Comedian Ricky Gervais had taken to Twitter to comment on the case after guilty the verdict. 
 
 He tweeted: "A man has been convicted in a UK court of making a joke that was deemed 'grossly offensive'. 
 
 "If you don't believe in a person's right to say things that you might find 'grossly offensive', then you don't believe in Freedom of Speech." 
 
 Image copyright PA 
 
 Andrew Black, BBC Scotland Reporter, at Airdrie Sheriff Court 
 
 Even before Mark Meechan arrived for his sentence, dozens of free speech campaigners were outside the building, protesting his innocence. 
 
 Also present was Tommy Robinson, ex-leader of the far-right English Defence League. 
 
 Inside, courtroom number two was packed out as members of the public and journalists sat poised to hear Sheriff Derek O'Carroll impose sentence. 
 
 Meechan's lawyer told the court his client was a man who enjoyed "shock humour" and questioned why he was in the dock, given the number of famous comedians who incorporate lines about the holocaust into their acts. 
 
 Sheriff O'Carroll told Meechan he'd made a deliberate decision to post offensive material in a place where any member of the public could see it. 
 
 At the same time, the sheriff said he was a first-offender with a low risk of committing further crime - and that he'd learned from his experience. 
 
 Afterwards Meechan emerged from court defiant - insisting all he'd done was exercise his right to free speech. 
 
 He left vowing to appeal. ||||| A man has been fined £800 after he posted footage on YouTube of a pet dog giving Nazi salutes. 
 
 Mark Meechan filmed his girlfriend's pug, Buddha, responding to statements such as "gas the Jews" and "Sieg Heil" by raising its paw. 
 
 He was arrested after police were alerted to the clip, which has been viewed more than three million times. 
 
 Following a trial at Airdrie Sheriff Court in Lanarkshire in March, he was found guilty of posting material that was "grossly offensive, anti-Semitic and racist". He had pleaded not guilty. 
 
 Meechan, who regularly posts videos on YouTube under the name Count Dankula, was convicted of committing a crime under the Communications Act which was aggravated by religious prejudice. 
 
 Image: Meechan was convicted of a hate crime 
 
 Meechan - described by his defence agent Ross Brown as a "tolerant and liberal" man - said he had posted the footage as a joke to annoy his partner, and claimed the case raised issues of freedom of speech. 
 
 The "entire point of the joke" was the "juxtaposition of having an adorable animal react to something vulgar", he said. 
 
 Speaking outside court, he claimed the case set a "really dangerous precedent for people to say things, their 
 
 context to be completely ignored and then they can be convicted for it". 
 
 But Sheriff Derek O'Carroll said that while the right to freedom of speech was important, the law "necessarily places some limits on that right" in "all modern democratic countries". 
 
 Sentencing Meechan, Sheriff O'Carroll also revealed the 30-year-old's girlfriend did not subscribe to the video channel he had posted the footage on. 
 
 He added: "I found it proved that the video you posted, using a public communications network, was grossly offensive and contained menacing, anti-Semitic and racist material. 
 
 "You deliberately chose the Holocaust as the theme of the video. 
 
 "You purposely used the command 'gas the Jews' as the centrepiece of what you called the entire joke, surrounding the 'gas the Jews' centrepiece with Nazi imagery and the Seig Heil command so there could be no doubt what historical events you were referring to." 
 
 The scene outside Airdrie Sheriff Court where Mark Meechan was fined £800 for YouTubing clip teaching girlfriend’s pug Nazi salute @skynews pic.twitter.com/Bp8OooDWey — James Matthews (@jamesmatthewsky) April 23, 2018 
 
 Mac Convery outside Airdrie Sheriff Court. Sentencing due of Mark Meechan, convicted after training his girlfriend’s pug to do Nazi salute pic.twitter.com/izSRQqBocZ — James Matthews (@jamesmatthewsky) April 23, 2018 
 
 Dozens of supporters, including former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson, were outside the building on Monday. 
 
 Ross Brown said his client was concerned about the impact his case could have on comedians such as Frankie Boyle and Ricky Gervais. 
 
 "His difficulty, it seems, was that he was someone who enjoyed shock humour, both giving and receiving it, and went about his life under the impression that he lived in a jurisdiction which permitted its citizens the right to freely express themselves," Mr Brown added. 
 
 After the guilty verdict last month, Gervais wrote on Twitter: "A man has been convicted in a UK court of making a joke that was deemed 'grossly offensive'. 
 
 "If you don't believe in a person's right to say things that you might find 'grossly offensive', then you don't believe in Freedom of Speech." ||||| Get daily updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email 
 
 A SCOT at the centre of a race-hate storm after a video of him filming his dog giving Nazi salutes went viral has been collared by police. 
 
 Markus Meechan, 28, from Coatbridge, was slammed by Jewish leaders after training his girlfriend’s pooch to respond to anti-Jewish slurs, including the phrase “Gas the Jews". 
 
 READ MORE: Man who sparked outrage with 'Nazi dog training' now claims he is a selfie celebrity as he poses with Conor McGregor 
 
 In a video uploaded online in April, Meechan showed the pug, named Buddha, reacting to the vile command and raising its paw to “Sieg Heil,” which he called a Nazi salute. 
 
 (Image: Facebook) 
 
 The video, named “M8 yer dug’s a Nazi,” went viral and clocked up almost a million views on YouTube. 
 
 Meechan later issued a grovelling apology but it has now emerged that he was arrested on Thursday, April 28, and spent a night in police cells as officers probed allegations that offensive material had been published online. 
 
 A report has since been submitted to the Procurator Fiscal and police have made it clear that offensive videos will not be tolerated. 
 
 (Image: Facebook) 
 
 READ MORE: 'Nazi dog' owner reveals he's been sacked over the offensive video ... and claims his new boss doesn't care 
 
 Detective Inspector David Cockburn said: “This clip was shared online and has been viewed almost one million times. 
 
 "I would ask anyone who has had the misfortune to have viewed it to think about the pain and hurt the narrative has caused a minority of people in our community. 
 
 “The clip is deeply offensive and no reasonable person can possibly find the content acceptable in today’s society. 
 
 "This arrest should serve as a warning to anyone posting such material online, or in any other capacity, that such views will not be tolerated." 
 
 Police commented that the arrest was in relation to the alleged publication of offensive material online and a report has been submitted to the Procurator Fiscal. 
 
 After the video went viral, Meechan revealed in a blog post that he had been fired from his job as a temporary call centre worker. 
 
 He wrote: “I got an email on my phone telling me I was fired. I held my phone and arms in the air and yelled ‘I got fired’ and everyone started laughing and cheering. 
 
 READ MORE: Coatbridge man at centre of 'Nazi dog' video controversy hits out after death threats 
 
 “As soon as the video went viral, I knew for a fact that was going to happen.”He added: “I already have another job - and, yes, my new boss is aware of the video and he couldn’t give less of a s***.” 
 
 Meechan’s “outrageous” attitude was blasted by Jewish groups and the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities dismissed suggestions it was meant as a joke. But Meechan later claimed he did not hate or wish ill-will on any race. 
 
 (Image: Count Dankula/YouTube) 
 
 He said: “The whole purpose of this was to annoy my girlfriend." 
 
 The footage also showed the dog watching speeches made by Hitler. At the end Meechan – who boasted on Facebook he had been recognised by people who saw it – insists he is not a racist. ||||| A call centre worker who is thought to have posted a video of his girlfriend’s dog doing a Nazi salute has been arrested. 
 
 The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was widely criticised following the emergence of the footage in April which showed the pug, named Buddha, jumping up when he heard the phrase “Gas the Jews”. 
 
 He also raised his paw when the heard the phrase “Sieg Heil” - which was allegedly called a Nazi salute. 
 
 The video, called “M8 yer dug’s a Nazi”, has clocked up nearly a million views on YouTube. 
 
 The 28-year-old was arrested on 28 April around a week after the video came to light and appeared at Airdrie Sheriff Court the next day on suspicion of posting offensive material online.. 
 
 A spokeswoman for Police Scotland said: "A 28 year old man was arrested on Thursday 28 April 2016 in relation to the alleged publication of offensive material online (improper use of electronic communications under the Communications Act 2003). A report has been submitted to the Procurator Fiscal”. 
 
 The force said it wanted to make it clear that offensive material would not be tolerated. 
 
 DI David Cockburn, from Coatbridge’s Criminal Investigation Department, said: "Posting offensive material online or in any other capacity will not be tolerated and police will act swiftly to tackle hate crimes that are motivated by malice or ill will because of faith, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation or disability. 
 
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 “This clip has been shared and viewed online, which ultimately has caused offence and hurt to many people in our community. 
 
 “There is no place for hate crime in Scotland and police take all reports of incidents seriously." 
 
 After the video went viral, the alleged poster revealed in a blogpost that he had been fired from his job as a temporary call centre worker. 
 
 He said that as soon as the video started wracking up hits he “knew it would happen”, but insister the video was just a joke. 
 
 His attitude was attacked as “outrageous” and the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities dismissed the claim it was meant as a joke. 
 
 Later, he issued an apology to the Jewish community, saying he never intended to offend anyone. 
 
 He told MailOnline: "I'm freaked out because everyone's going to actually think that I hate Jews now and I don't at all. I'm kind of panicked about it. 
 
 "Honestly, I don't hate anyone, the whole purpose of this was just to annoy my girlfriend."
– He says he was just trying to annoy his girlfriend; a Scottish court decided in March it qualified as a hate crime. Now, Markus Meechan will have to pay roughly $1,100 over the video he posted in April 2016 that showed his girlfriend's pug making a Nazi-like salute. The BBC reports the video, titled "M8 Yer Dugs a Nazi," was viewed more than 3 million times. In it, Meechan repeatedly asks his girlfriend's dog, Buddha, if the pug wants to "gas the Jews" in what appears to be an attempt to get him to react to the phrase, and teaches him to raise his paw to the command "Sieg Heil." Sheriff Derek O'Carroll, who issued the fine, didn't buy the 30-year-old's excuse, and Sky News reports he also noted that Meechan's girlfriend wasn't a subscriber to the YouTube channel he posted to. "The fact that you claim in the video, and elsewhere, that the video was intended only to annoy your girlfriend … is of little assistance to you," O'Carroll said. "A racist joke or a grossly offensive video does not lose its racist or grossly offensive quality merely because the maker asserts he only wanted to get a laugh." Meechan disagreed, saying context mattered: "This is a really dangerous precedent to set—for people to say things and their context to be completely ignored and then they can be convicted for it." He says he'll appeal. The BBC notes Ricky Gervais tweeted a take in line with Meechan's last month: "A man has been convicted in a UK court of making a joke that was deemed 'grossly offensive.' If you don't believe in a person's right to say things that you might find 'grossly offensive', then you don't believe in Freedom of Speech." Gervais followed up with a joke of his own Monday: "Can't believe the pug got off scot-free."