The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) said on Tuesday that it rejected the motion filed by retired Croatian football player Josip Simunic, who had lodged an appeal over the 25,000 kuna (€3,370) fine levied by Croatian courts for his chanting of the fascist World War II Ustasha salute after a national team match in November 2013.

In the celebrations after Croatia had won the 2014 World Cup qualifier against Iceland 2-0 in Zagreb’s Maksimir Stadium, Simunic, while still on the pitch, was handed a public announcement microphone and proceeded to lead the chanting which thousands of fans in the stadium joined in.

Simunic later lodged a complaint to the Strasbourg-based court, claiming that the rulings of local courts made him discriminated against, since others using the same chant “had been acquitted whereas he had been found guilty and fined.” He also insisted that the salute was not banned explicitly by any Croatian law and that his right to freedom of expression was infringed.

In its decision published on Tuesday, ECHR said that “…the applicant chanted a phrase used as a greeting by a totalitarian regime at a football match in front of a large audience to which the audience replied, and that he did so four times. The Court considers that the applicant, being a famous football player and a role model for many football fans, should have been aware of the possible negative impact of provocative chanting on spectators’ behaviour… and should have abstained from such conduct.”

After the incident, FIFA issued a separate 30,000 Swiss francs (€26,350) to Simunic and banned him for ten international matches. The ruling effectively banned Australian-born Simunic from appearing in the 2014 World Cup, and effectively ended his international career at the age of 35.

“The national courts analysed carefully all aspects of the case and held that the said expression, irrespective of its original Croatian literary and poetic meaning, had been used also as an official greeting of the Ustashe movement and totalitarian regime of the Independent State of Croatia. That phrase had been present in all official documents of that State. The national courts also held that the Ustashe movement had originated from fascism, based, inter alia, on racism, and thus symbolised hatred towards people of a different religious or ethnic identity and the manifestation of racist ideology,” ECHR said on Tuesday.

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