Amid initiatives to outlaw the Ribbon of Saint George and the “Z” symbol, which signal support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, two Lithuanian ministries have proposed to go further.
The Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Justice y say Lithuania should ban the use of symbols of all totalitarian and authoritarian regimes, incitement to war crimes, crimes against humanity and propaganda.
On Tuesday, representatives of the two ministries discussed the proposals with members of the parliamentary Committee on Culture who were looking into two initiatives to ban symbols related to Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine.
Committee members backed all the proposals, leaving it for the parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs to make the final decision on the wording. The bill will be later put to a plenary vote in the parliament, Seimas.
According to Justice Ministry representatives, the Code of Administrative Offences should not contain a finite list of outlawed symbols, since different symbols may acquire new meanings.
The Interior Ministry pointed out that, in addition to the letters “Z” and “V”, Russia’s military forces are using other symbols as well, including the letters “O”, “X”, “A”.
The ministry has proposed that rather than listing specific symbols, the Code of Administrative Offences should contain a general provision, penalizing the dissemination and public display of symbols used by Russia or any other aggressor state in connection with its military aggression.
Both ministries have also proposed to punish the promotion of war crimes and crimes against humanity, as well as military aggression.
“If we limit ourselves to [outlawing] the promotion of military aggression only, those people who raise St. George’s Ribbon and rejoice – I hope this will never happen – over the Bucha tragedy and the massacres in other cities, [can escape responsibility], these are not considered crimes of aggression, they are more dangerous crimes,” Martynas Dobrovolskis, an adviser from the Justice Ministry’s criminal justice group, told the MPs in the Culture Committee.
There are also calls for authoritarian regimes to be listed alongside totalitarian regimes.
The Lithuanian parliament is currently considering two similar proposals to ban the letter “Z”, the symbol of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and St. George’s Ribbon. If both receive initial backing, the Committee on Legal Affairs will have to combine the proposals into one bill.
Both bills propose to equate St. George’s Ribbon and the “Z” symbol with Nazi and Communist symbols, already banned in Lithuania, and to punish their public display with fines between 300 and 700 euros.
Currently, the Law on Meetings in Lithuania bans displays of flags, coats of arms, uniforms, symbols of Nazi or communist organizations, as well as performing the national anthems of Nazi Germany, the USSR, or the Lithuanian SSR.
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