A Melbourne magistrate has found a 24-year-old man guilty of performing a prohibited Nazi salute during a screening of The Zone of Interest but chose not to record a criminal conviction, saying it would likely make his employment prospects even worse.
Nathan Bull was sentenced on Monday to a six-month community corrections order requiring him to complete 125 hours of unpaid work. The decision followed his conviction for disrupting a screening at Cinema Nova in Carlton on March 9, 2024.
The court heard Bull was among five people who interrupted the Academy Award-winning Holocaust drama by making Nazi salutes, denying the Holocaust, and praising Adolf Hitler during the screening.
While deciding the sentence, Magistrate Stella Stuthridge considered Bull’s personal circumstances. Representing himself, Bull argued that his political views had already damaged his ability to find work.
“It is quite difficult to get a job, obviously, because of who I am,” he told the court.
“They can just Google me and they don’t want the issues that it comes with being pulled up by communists, saying they have a Nazi working for them or the police showing up.”
Bull also told the court he relied on Centrelink payments to support his family and said his partner was expecting their second child within days.
Police prosecutor Jessica McCartney argued that the seriousness of the offence justified recording a conviction. Bull did not apologise for his conduct during the proceedings.
After considering the case, Ms Stuthridge decided not to record a conviction. She said Bull’s political views and other ongoing legal matters had already had a “dramatic impact on his employability.”
“I think a conviction could only add to those difficulties,” Ms Stuthridge said.
The case stemmed from a disruptive incident during a screening of The Zone of Interest, a film depicting the everyday family life of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss beside the Auschwitz concentration camp while mass murder occurred nearby.
During a contested two-day hearing in May, six witnesses, including cinema staff and audience members, described what happened inside the theatre.
Related: ICE Immigration Courts – Over 425,000 Children Face Deportation Without Lawyers, DOJ Data Shows
Witness Daphne Mohajer va Pesaran told the court the group entered the cinema behaving loudly before mocking scenes depicting human suffering.
“It felt like they were excited to be there, they were egging each other on and announced to the cinema that we’d been lied to, that the Holocaust didn’t happen,” Ms Mohajer va Pesaran said.
She also testified that members of the group stood and addressed the audience, declaring that “Hitler was a great guy” and “he didn’t do anything wrong”.
Another witness, Richard Schultz, told the court he saw two members of the group perform Nazi salutes during the screening.
Bull appeared in court wearing a black Helly Hansen polo shirt. The clothing brand has been appropriated by some far-right extremists because its prominent “HH” logo is interpreted by them as an abbreviation for “Heil Hitler.”
