DSince the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the “Z” has been a punishable symbol of support for the illegal war of aggression when it is shown in public. Therefore, a Russian-born German must now transfer 1,500 euros to the non-profit initiative “Germany helps”. He had worn a black T-shirt with a large white “Z” at his workplace in a town near Wiesbaden.
According to District Judge Carina Steinhauser, there are still no higher court rulings on this, but in the Wiesbaden judicial district, displaying the “Z” in public is considered a criminal offense because, according to criminal law, it is “suitable for disturbing public peace”. That also applies to a company with five dozen employees. The district judge, with the consent of the public prosecutor and the defense attorney, dropped the proceedings against the payment of the fine.
T-shirt in response to Ukrainian flag
The 49-year-old from Wiesbaden, who works as an electrician for an electronics company in Walluf, has lived in Germany since 1992 and is a German citizen. However, he mainly got his information about the world and current developments from the Russian media. He therefore believed that Nazis had come to power in Ukraine, the defendant said in the courtroom.
A Russian friend brought him the T-shirt with the “Z” and he wore it at work as a counterpoint to the Ukrainian flag, which his employer had demonstratively hoisted at the company building in the Wallufer industrial park after the outbreak of war. He was not aware that he was committing a crime, said the man, who not only regrets the choice of clothing, but also his choice of media.
setting changed
Now that the son of one of his close friends has died in the war, the father of a 15-year-old son also wants to have changed his mind and see more German news. At the beginning of the war he still thought that – as with the annexation of Crimea – no shots would be fired. He banished the T-shirt to the closet after his boss asked him about it. He would never have dreamed that he would be on trial because of this.
“It doesn’t necessarily have to be a judgment,” said Judge Steinhauser after a fast-track hearing of evidence and resorted to the instrument of a monetary condition, which is expressly provided for in the Code of Criminal Procedure in the event that the guilt of the perpetrator is considered to be minor and does not attack any public interest of persecution. If the previously unconvicted man transfers his five installments of 300 euros each on time, the process is complete.
The money goes to “Germany Helps”, an alliance of several aid organizations that, among other things, collect donations for the earthquake victims in Syria and Turkey, but also for the victims of the war in Ukraine.