Meechan said he won’t pay the fine

A Scottish man who was fine £800 after he filmed a pet dog giving a Nazi salute has launched a GoFundMe page to pay for his appeal raising over £75,000 within 48 hours.

Mark Meechan was found guilty of a hate crime because of he communicated “grossly offensive” content on video-sharing site Youtube.

Meechan, who is from Coatbridge, Scotland, taught his girlfriends dog to raise his paw when given the words s “gas the Jews”.

Meechan said he won’t pay the fine in a new video called “The Price of Freedom is £800.”

The London Economic reports: He also set up uk.gofundme.com/fund-the-count-dankula-appeal called ‘Fund The Count Dankula Appeal’ to fund his challenge at the High Court.

By 11am today (weds) it had raised £78,149.

GoFundMe page set up to raise money for the appeal of Mark Meechan.

On the video, Meechan said: “I am no criminal, I have committed no crime, I’ve done nothing wrong therefore I should not be punished.

“My form of protest is to refuse any punishment that the judge gives me. I owe the court 800 pounds. I’m not f***ing paying it.”

Meechan is aiming to raise £100,000 through the GoFundMe page to cover legal costs and has raised more than £75,000 in the first hours of the page being live.

Meechan said he was appealing because his conviction “will be used as an example to convict other people over the things they say and the jokes they make.”

Mark Meechan leaves Airdrie Sherriff Court, with girlfriend Suzanne Kelly, where he was fined after being found guilty of a hate crime. April 23 2018.

He added: “Me having a criminal record and paying an £800 fine is an irrelevance. What matters is the precedent this case sets.

“Whenever anyone says something that might be unsavoury, the court gets to decide the context of it and can punish you for it. That’s Stalinist.

“We need to get the best that money can by so we can go to the High Court and nuke this precedent. This precedent needs to go.”