"Free Speech Has Its Limits", Rules Czech Supreme Court
The Czech Supreme Court has upheld a suspended prison sentence imposed on a former dissident who publicly wore clothing displaying symbols associated with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
According to Echo24, botanist Pavel Křivka walked through Pardubice in April 2024 wearing a black sweatshirt bearing a large white letter ‘Z’ and the Russian words “For Victory.”
Lower courts convicted him of publicly approving a crime against peace and sentenced him to six months in prison, suspended for two years. An appeal to the Supreme Court has now been rejected.
“Freedom of expression is one of the fundamental rights of a democratic society, but it has its limits,” court spokeswoman Gabriela Tomíčková said.
“According to the Supreme Court, public support or approval of the most serious international crimes exceeds the limits of expression which is entitled to full constitutional protection,” she added.
The court said a person does not need to make a speech or explicitly attempt to persuade others to commit an offense. Publicly displaying symbols can itself constitute a crime when their meaning is sufficiently clear.
Judges also rejected Křivka’s argument that the Z symbol does not appear on an official list of prohibited imagery. They ruled that its meaning must be assessed in context and said the combination of the letter Z and the “For Victory” slogan could not reasonably be interpreted as anything other than support for Russian aggression.
The court said Křivka’s education and experience in public and political life meant he would have understood the symbolism. He had also repeatedly expressed opinions on Russia and Ukraine.
Prosecutors described the hoodie as “warmonger clothing” and argued that Křivka intended to stir hostility toward Ukraine and Ukrainians. His lawyer maintained that wearing clothing he liked was not illegal.
The letter Z first appeared on Russian military vehicles during the February 2022 invasion before becoming a wider propaganda symbol used at rallies, on billboards, on clothing and across Russian social media.
Křivka had previously criticized the rulings of the lower Czech courts. “I did not commit any propaganda for war or genocide or anything like that. I walked down the street in standard clothes, clothes that I bought in China when I was there to teach Czech. We have much more freedom in China than in the Czech Republic,” he said in February, as cited by Novinky.cz.
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