German court orders man found guilty of wearing Z-shirt to donate €1,500 to Ukraine

A court in Germany has ordered a Wiesbaden man to donate €1,500 in order to aid Ukraine for wearing a T-shirt with the ‘Z’ symbol, as per Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

The man’s name remains undisclosed, but it is known that he is 49 years old, works as a wireman, and has been living in Germany since 1992.

“The man was receiving information about the world and current events from Russian media. This is why he was convinced that Nazis had taken over Ukraine,” the media outlet cites the man’s court testimony.

The T-shirt was given to him by a Russian friend. The man used to wear it to work, despite his employer decorating the building with a Ukrainian flag soon after the war began. He said he was unaware he was committing a crime and was regretting not only his clothing decisions, but also the choice of media to follow.

After a son of one of his closest friends was killed in the war, the man stated that he was going to change his attitude towards the war and watch more German news. He also stopped wearing the Z-shirt after his boss asked him to.

He is now obliged to make five donations €300 each to the Deutschland hilft organisation to close the investigation.

The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against Vladimir Putin on 17 March. Moreover, the court wants Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights Maria Lvova-Belova to be arrested as well. They are suspected of committing a war crime of unlawfully deporting Ukrainians from the Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia, particularly children, the court’s press release reads.

German authorities will be mandated to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin if he visits the country in compliance with the ICC warrant, German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann said in an interview for Bild.