The Administrative Court of the German city of Hamburg fined a city resident 4 thousand euros for the sign Z, placed in the spring on the rear window of the car. The 62-year-old driver was found guilty of endorsing criminal acts, the DW reports.
Photo: DW
For the A4 poster attached to the rear window of the car, the driver was initially fined 60-day rates of 30 euros each (1800 euros). He appealed in court. The court increased the penalty to 80 daily rates of 50 euros.
The court decided that numerous media reports indicate that Z is a symbol of Russia’s war. The ruling states that it can be interpreted as “For Victory”. The decision has not yet entered into force.
According to the court’s press secretary, during the trial, the accused man did not deny that back in March, about a month after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, he affixed a white A4 sheet with a blue letter Z to his car. “In the opinion of the court, this action was a demonstration of support of Russia in its war in Ukraine,” he said.
The accused perpetrator is a German citizen born in Mecklenburg. He said that the connection of Z with the Russian war is doubtful, reports the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. According to him, it is just the last letter of the alphabet. His defender recalled the existence of the term “generation Z” (62-year-olds do not belong to it).
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