A COATBRIDGE man accused of teaching his girlfriend's pet dog to give a Nazi salute faces court after denying committing a hate crime.

Mark Meechan, 29, allegedly recorded his girlfriend's pug Buddha responding to statements such as 'gas the Jews' and 'Sieg Heil' before posting it on YouTube.

3 Buddha the pug was filmed watching Hitler speaking at Nazi rallies

3 The pug was filmed saluting to phrases such as 'Sieg Heil' and 'gas the Jews'

The shocking clip gathered millions of views and complaints led to the police being called in - he was charged with committing a hate crime and posting a video which was grossly offensive.

Meechan, from Scotland, has been accused by prosecutors of causing fear and alarm by allegedly posting a clip which was "anti-semitic in nature".

PC Colin Duff, 31, said his investigation led him to believe Meechan was the owner of the 'Count Dankula' YouTube channel which posted the video.

He played the video of the dog in court and explained it was still widely available to users and continued to rack up thousands of hits a day.

The clip has now been viewed more than 2.8 million times.

Meechan is heard saying in the video he only got the dog to do it to annoy his girlfriend Suzanne Kelly, 29.

3 The shocking clip of the dog gathered millions of views and complaints led to the police being called in

At the start of the clip he says: "My girlfriend is always ranting and raving about how cute and adorable her wee dog is so I thought I would turn him into the least cute thing I could think of which is a Nazi."

In the video the dog is seen perking up when it hears the statements and appears to lift its paw to the 'Sieg Heil' command in the video entitled 'M8 yer dugs a Nazi'.

It is also filmed watching a fiery rally by Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler in the Olympia film which documents the Olympic Games in Berlin held in 1936.

The court was also shown a second video where Meechan apologised for any offence the clips caused.

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He says: "I am not a racist at all, anybody who knows me could tell you that.

"I'm freaked out because everyone's going to actually think that I hate Jews now and I don't at all. I'm kind of panicked about it.

"Honestly, I don't hate anyone, the whole purpose of this was just to annoy my girlfriend.

"I just want everyone to know that I don't wish any ill-will on any race or anything, it's just how shock comedy works.

"It was strictly made to annoy my girlfriend and give my friends something to laugh at.

"I am so sorry to the Jewish community for any offence I have caused them. This was never my intention and I apologise."

PC Duff added: "When you look at that Count Dankula channel then you could infer that it belonged to Mr Meechan.

"I believe he used his own details to sign up to that account and I believe he uploaded videos to that account.

"The video M8 yer dugs a Nazi was uploaded to that Count Dankula channel.

"Over 40,000 people now subscribe to that channel which is up from 400 when the video was first published."

The trial before Sheriff Derek O'Carroll has been adjourned until later this year.

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