In Kuzbass, an exhibition of Wehrmacht badges was not recognized as an offense

The Kemerovo World Court acquitted the owner and seller of the antiques exhibition and sale, accused of promoting and publicly displaying Nazi symbols and paraphernalia.

On May 8, 2014, it became known that the Magistrate's Court in Kemerovo did not see the corpus delicti under Art. 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (propaganda and public demonstration of Nazi paraphernalia or symbols) in the actions of the organizers of the exhibition of antiques at the Kemerovo railway station.

The court concluded that the display of badges was not of a propaganda nature and that the purpose of public propaganda and demonstration of Nazism was not pursued.

The case against Andrey Kryuchkov and Yevgenia Rasnovskaya was initiated by a news report by the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (Vesti-Kuzbass). According to the journalist, the Wehrmacht badges - "Kuban Shield", the Luftwaffe badge "For ground combat" and the badge for torpedo boats were exhibited in the museum for the purpose of sale. Shortly after the story aired, on November 30, 2013, employees of the Federal Security Service of Russia for the Kemerovo Region and the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Kemerovo Region drew up an administrative protocol. The exhibits were confiscated.

Rasnovskaya and Kryuchkov claimed that the signs of the Wehrmacht lay on the window without price tags and among the badges of other countries from the times of the first and second world wars. At the same time, the swastika on the badges of the Wehrmacht was sealed with paper, and other symbols on the badges (eagles, wings, wreaths and lightning bolts) are not Nazi paraphernalia or symbols.

By court order, all badges must be returned to the owner.

We recall that, in our opinion, Art. 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses should not be applied to antique dealers, but to modern manufacturers of items with Nazi and neo-Nazi symbols (badges, clothes, copies of weapons, etc.) and distributors of such products.

Sources

• Thanks to Vesti-Kuzbass, a resident of Khakassia was almost sued for extremism, which did not exist // IA "Khakassia". 2014. May 8.