AN Austrian man has been sentenced to 19 months in prison for tattooing a swastika on his testicle.
The 29-year-old neo-Nazi from Sankt Veit an der Glan went on trial in the city of Klagenfurt on June 8.
The Third Reich fanatic was also found posing for photos with Nazi paraphenalia, guzzling Hitler-branded wine, and posted Nazi propaganda online.
The court heard how he drank almost two bottles of whiskey before his brother tattooed the banned symbol on his scrotum.
He then posted a photo online and showed his army colleagues during a drinking session following a day of training.
The man, who can't be named because of local privacy laws, has a criminal record and was proviously sentenced to two years in prison for deliberate aggravated bodily harm following a brawl at a festival in his hometown.
He was sentenced to 19 months in prison for the glorification of Nazism and illegal firearm possession.
During the trial, the Austrian soldier claimed he was "sorry" and "embarrassed" for his past actions.
"I just got in with bad company. For us, anything that wasn't allowed was something we gravitated towards, but we all underestimated enormously how much a mistake this was," he told the court.
It was only when Austrian investigators opened a case into the tattoo that the man realised what "nonsense" Nazi glorification was.
He added: "Other than that, I can't give any reasonable explanation for why I did it."
He says he severed ties with far-right groups eight years ago and stopped drinking heavily since his stint behind bars.
He also said the tattoo was no longer visible.
His lawyer, Franz Zimmermann, has said he will appeal the sentence.
Austria's National Socialism Prohibition Act of 1947 mandates prison sentences for those who try to revive or glorify organisations resembling the Nazi party.
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