One of the most prominent figures in the far-right Alternative for Germany party has arrived in court for his trial on charges of using a Nazi slogan, months before a regional election in which he is running to become his state’s governor.

Björn Höcke, 52, is the leader of the regional branch of Alternative for Germany, or AfD, in the eastern state of Thuringia and a powerful figure on the party’s hard right.

While never formally a national leader of AfD, the former history teacher has been consistently influential as the 11-year-old party has steadily headed further right and ousted several comparatively moderate leaders.

Far-right politician Bjoern Hoecke in court. – AP

At the trial at the state court in Halle, he is charged with using symbols of unconstitutional organisations. He is accused of ending a speech in nearby Merseburg in May 2021 with the words: “Everything for Germany!”

Prosecutors contend he was aware of the origin of the phrase as a slogan of the Nazis’ SA stormtroopers.

Using symbols of unconstitutional organisations can carry a fine or a prison sentence of up to three years. Four court sessions have been scheduled through May 14.

Höcke insisted in a debate with a conservative rival last week that he wasn’t aware “Everything for Germany!” was a Nazi slogan and claimed that many others have used it.

“Everyone out there knows it’s an everyday saying,” he said on Welt television.

Demonstrators gathered outside the court building before the trial opened, with banners including “Björn Höcke is a Nazi” and “Stop AfD!”. About 570 protesters turned out, according to police.

The court last week added a second count of using the same phrase to the Halle trial, but decided shortly before proceedings started to try that separately because Höcke’s defence lawyers recently changed, German news agency dpa reported. In that case, prosecutors allege that he repeated the offence at a party event in Gera last December, “in certain knowledge of the punishability” of the slogan.

They say that Höcke said “Everything for ...” and encouraged the audience to shout “Germany!”.

Protestors hold banners outside the state court in Halle, Germany. – AP

Höcke has led AfD’s regional branch in Thuringia since 2013, the year the party was founded, and its group in the state legislature in Erfurt since it first won seats there in 2014.

He once called the Holocaust memorial in Berlin a “monument of shame” and called for Germany to perform a “180-degree turn” in how it remembers its past. A party tribunal in 2018 rejected a bid to have him expelled.

Höcke’s regional branch of AfD is now one of three that the domestic intelligence agency has under official surveillance as a “proven right-wing extremist” group.

Wolfgang Schroeder, a political science professor at the Berlin Social Science Centre, said Höcke has become an increasingly important figure in AfD and the front man of a “radicalisation project” in the party. He said that people vote for the party “in part out of protest, in part out of conviction”.

AfD is particularly strong in the formerly communist east and is in first place in polls in Thuringia ahead of a state election on September 1, with recent surveys showing support of 29-to-31 per cent.

It’s unlikely that any other party will agree to work with Höcke and put him in the governor’s office, but AfD’s strength has made forming governing coalitions in the state enormously complicated.

He also faces a second trial, for which dates haven’t yet been set, on charges of incitement related to a 2022 post on Telegram about a crime in the western city of Ludwigshafen.