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. “I think it is a very, very dark day in terms of freedom of speech and freedom of expression.”

Meechan videotaped his girlfriend’s pug, Buddha, raising his paw whenever he hears the phrase “Sieg Heil” while watching a speech by Adolf Hitler. "Some people found it funny, the video got shared three million times on YouTube with lots of inane comments like 'lol' underneath so clearly some people found it funny. But after complaints about the content, police were called in and he was arrested for allegedly committing a hate crime by uploading the footage on to the popular video sharing website in April 2016. Meechan insisted that he taught the trick to the dog to annoy his girlfriend and apologized on YouTube soon after he posted the clip. 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. Sheriff Derek O’Carroll said the video “contained menacing, anti-Semitic and racist material.” The dog was filmed responding to the phrase “gas the Jews,” which was repeated 23 times in the video, O’Carroll said. Meechan - a comedian and video blogger who uses the name Count Dankula - said the stunt was meant as a joke, but he was convicted last month of posting "grossly offensive" material. Meechan, who is known on YouTube as Count Dankula, said that what he did was acceptable because he “put it in context.” His intent was to juxtapose a cute pug with the “least cute thing I could think of — which is a Nazi.”

Tommy Robinson, former leader of the controversial far-right English Defence League, was among a group of protesters who defended Meechan when his fine was imposed. The judge said that while the right to freedom of expression is very important, “in all modern democratic countries the law necessarily places some limits on that right.”

Outside court, Meechan, 30, said his conviction set a “really dangerous precedent” for free speech and he would appeal. He said his client was concerned about the impact his conviction may have on comedians such as John Cleese, Frankie Boyle and Ricky Gervais if they were to come to Scotland due to the material referenced in some of their acts. In a YouTube post, he said: "I'm here outside Airdrie Sheriff Court where earlier this week YouTube comedian Marcus Meechan, otherwise known as Count Dankula, was convicted of making a grossly offensive video.
Scottish YouTuber Mark "Count Dankula" Meechan is fined £800 for a racially aggravated offence under the Communications Act for a video of a pug dog responding to Nazi slogans. Protests are held outside Airdrie Sheriff Court and English Defence League ex-leader Tommy Robinson sits in court to support Meechan.