German PEGIDA leader fined over incitement on Facebook

Lutz Bachmann, co-founder of Germany's PEGIDA movement, smiles between his supporters prior to the beginning of his trial on accusations of incitement in Dresden, eastern Germany, Tuesday, May 3, 2016. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer) (The Associated Press)

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Lawyer Katja Reichel checks her watch besides Lutz Bachmann, co-founder of Germany's PEGIDA movement, in the courtroom prior to the beginning of the trial on accusations of incitement in Dresden, eastern Germany, Tuesday, May 3, 2016. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer, pool) (The Associated Press)

Lutz Bachmann, co-founder of Germany's PEGIDA movement, right, walks together with his wife Vicky Bachmann, left, in front of his supporters prior the beginning of his trial on accusations of incitement in Dresden, eastern Germany, Tuesday, May 3, 2016. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer) (The Associated Press)

BERLIN – A German court has fined the anti-immigration group PEGIDA's best-known figure for inciting hatred against migrants on Facebook.

The district court in the eastern city of Dresden said Tuesday that Lutz Bachmann has to pay 9,600 euros (11,000 dollars) for calling foreigners "cattle" and "trash" online.

Bachmann co-founded PEGIDA, short for Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West, which has staged weekly protests in Dresden and spawned similar though less-successful groups elsewhere.

Bachmann said earlier that the trial was "purely politically motivated" and meant to discredit him and PEGIDA.