“The Russian war of aggression against Ukraine is a crime. Anyone who publicly endorses this war of aggression can be prosecuted. This also applies to showing the Z sign. The clearest message came from this March 29 post, published on the official Twitter profile of the German Ministry of the Interior. For days, several governments in the various German federal states have been emphasizing that they want to deal with the persecution of the new proRussian symbol. From the citystate of Berlin to Bavaria, from Lower Saxony to SchleswigHolstein, the discussion seems to have only just begun.
In the meantime, a first complaint had been filed with the police in Rinteln, Lower Saxony, against two citizens of Russian origin who had issued the Z on their car. Instead, investigations are underway in Würzburg (Bavaria), where five Zs were spraypainted on a church, and in Hildesheim (also in Lower Saxony), where cars belonging to Ukrainian refugees were tagged and marked with the incriminated letter.
From a cultural point of view, the authorities’ position appears to be linked to the historic German ban on the display of Nazi symbols such as the swastika. In the case of the proRussian Z, however, no new law is needed. In Germany, its demonstration may be punishable under § 140 StGB, which punishes condoning or committing a crime “to disturb the public peace” with imprisonment for up to 3 years or a fine. The fact that the invasion of the Ukraine is to be classified as a “crime” from a legal point of view is primarily due to Section 13 of the International Criminal Code, the German special code for crimes against international law, which “punishes anyone who wages a war of aggression or an act of aggression that is inherent to their nature , seriousness and extent constitutes a flagrant violation of the Charter of the United Nations”.
Several companies are now doing without the letter Z, in this case for branding reasons.
The wellknown Swiss insurance company Zurich, whose logo consists only of a Z, is temporarily removing the use of the letter from social channels “where it appears in isolation and could be misunderstood”. A similar operation is being carried out for markets like Lithuania and Latvia by South Korean multinational Samsung, which is already eliminating the Z from the names of some smartphones (e.g. Z Flip and Galaxy Z).
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