Two anti-vaxxers in Austria who wore Stars of David to promote their conspiracy theories have been convicted of breaching an anti-Nazi law.

A court in Vienna found that the defendants — known only as Mr K and Mr B — had “grossly downplayed” the Holocaust and violated Austria’s Prohibition Act banning Nazi activity.

The two men had worn yellow stars made of felt branded with the word “ungeimpft” (unvaccinated) at anti-vaxxer demonstrations in the Austrian capital.

Mr K, aged 50, and Mr B, 34, had pleaded not guilty.

The lawyer for the two men, neither of whom is vaccinated, argued in court that they suffered from “fears” about the consequences Austria’s Covid-19 regulations would have for their professional and personal lives.

They were handed 15-month suspended sentences and three years’ probation.

Their convictions come a month after Austria’s Jewish community backed a proposed change to the country’s Prohibition Act that would explicitly outlaw the exploitation of the Holocaust through images and slogans witnessed at Austrian anti-vax protests.

The President of the Jewish Community of Vienna Oskar Deutsch warned last month: “This mockery of the victims of the Holocaust and of the survivors must stop.”

Meanwhile, Germany’s Central Council of Jews has called for action against a neo-Nazi in the eastern city of Halle selling symbols of the Star of David branded with “ungeimpft”.

Central Council President Josef Schuster said the “blatant comparisons with the Nazi era” were “contemptuous of humanity and totally disrespectful”.

The seller claimed the star refers to “the stigmatisation of groups of people who have been marked with signs to exclude them”.