The Ribbon of Saint George is no longer banned and the citizens of the Republic of Moldova will not be fined for wearing this ribbon. The Constitutional Court (CC) verified the constitutionality of provisions that ban generally known symbols used in the context of military aggression, war crimes or crimes against humanity. The Court pronounced on the matter after it was notified by MPs Adrian Lebedinschi and Grigore Novac and also by a person who was penalized for wearing the black and orange ribbon, IPN reports.
The authors challenged a number of norms that extended the list of symbols classed as extremist and stipulate penalties for their use. These are generally known symbols used in the context of military aggression, war crimes or crimes against humanity and also of propaganda or glorification of these actions.
The Court held that the use of attributes or symbols is equal to the expression of an opinion in the form of a symbolic speech, while the ban on their use limits the right to the freedom of expression. Even if the law does not specify a list of symbols that fall into the category of “generally known symbols used in the context of military aggression, war crimes or crimes against humanity also of propaganda or glorification of these actions”, it describes these, giving “the black and orange ribbon” as an example. Also, the law provides that the generally known character of such attributes and symbols is ascertained only when the given attributes and symbols and the specific connotations of these are objectively known by the general public at intentional and national levels.
The Court ascertained the existence of broad consensus on the fact that these symbols include, besides “the black and orange ribbon”, letters “Z” and “V” (when they are used in the form that reminds of their use by the Russian armed forces in Ukraine). The Court also noted that the symbols banned by the law are covered by legislation that was recently adopted in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Ukraine. This fact shows that they are indeed generally known at intentional and national levels as symbols associated with Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
The Court held that some of the analyzed symbols can have multiple connotations. In some of the circumstances, letters “Z” and “V” can be considered symbols that glorify the invasion of Ukraine, while in other cases they can represent emblems, brand names, initials of names or simply letters of the Latin alphabet.
This way, the law stipulates penalties for situations in which the banned symbols are used without the intention to propagate military aggression, war crimes or crimes against humanity and also for situations when the goal is to transmit messages that cannot be tolerated in a democratic society.
By its decision, the Court declared unconstitutional the text “and that can be mixed up with these” from the definition of “extremist activity” that is stipulated in Article 1 of Law No. 54 of February 21, 2003 concerning the counteracting of extremist activity.
The CC decision is definitive, cannot be challenged, takes effect when it is adopted and is published in the Official Gazette.
A year ago, the symbols and attributes that promote military aggression, war crimes and crimes against humanity were banned by a law to amend the Contravention Code. Among these is the black and orange ribbon known as the Ribbon of Saint George, letters “Z”, “V” etc.
