Czech court finds man guilty of public approval of war crimes for wearing symbols of the Russian armed forces and Wagner Group terrorists

The court also banned the man from entering Prague for one year and ordered him to pay a fine of CZK 12,000 [EUR 500]. Jašek disagreed with the charges and said he condemns war crimes “no matter who commits them”.

The court decision has yet to take effect. Judge Lukáš Svrček pointed out that when assessing whether the defendant had approved of war crimes, he reviewed background information that was legally relevant.

According to the judge, there is no doubt that Jašek approved of the crimes publicly. Regarding the assessment of whether Ukraine is a place where war crimes are happening, he referenced a commission from the UN which investigated and reported on that issue.

“The court is not depriving the defendant of any of his political views,” the judge emphasized further. The same punishment had been handed down against Jašek in March by court order, but he appealed, so a trial had to be held.

According to Judge Svrček, the evidentiary situation did not change in the interim and the defendant displayed no self-reflection about his actions. He also pointed out that Jašek is currently under investigation in a separate case for similar criminal activity.

Jašek wore a patch with the letter Z on it, which has become a symbol of Russia’s full-fledged invasion of Ukraine, to the 11 March demonstration, according to prosecutor Katarína Kandová. He also had another patch with the logo of the private Russian Wagner Group, which is also fighting in Ukraine.

According to the prosecutor, his intention was to express support for Russia’s full-fledged invasion of Ukraine. For denying, doubting, approving of and justifying genocide he faced up to three years in prison.

Jašek disagrees with the charge. “I did not believe my behavior approved of any genocide or crimes committed anywhere by anybody against anyone,” he told the court.

The defendant claimed to have many friends who are Ukrainians. Allegedly he based his actions on what he learned from social media in particular.

Jašek said he believes Russia is “saving” the citizens of the self-declared, separatist republics in the east of Ukraine “from the criminal regime of Ukraine”. He did not want to answer questions during the trial due to his nervousness, so the judge read into the record the testimony he gave to police.

In that statement, Jašek said Russian troops are in Ukraine to fight alleged “Nazis” and that he considers them to be “liberators”. In her closing remarks, the prosecutor said he was not being tried for his opinion of the Russian invasion, but that he had to have known the symbols he was wearing are perceived as symbols supporting aggression and associated war crimes.

The prosecutor also pointed out that the symbols were not criminalized until Russia invaded Ukraine. According to the defense attorney, wearing the patches was political speech expressing a view of the situation and Jašek never intended to approve of crimes.

The judge said Jašek’s behavior was not just illegal, but reprehensible. “It is all the more sad that you are wearing such symbols in a place where, in 1968, many Czech citizens were injured (or worse) after similar ‘liberators’ came here,” he said when justifying his decision.

The defendant did not want to comment on the verdict. About 15 of his supporters attended his trial.

The trial was accompanied by great media interest and the judge allowed the entire proceedings to be filmed. After the demonstration against the Czech Government in mid-March, several hundred protesters tried to break in to the building of the National Museum to remove the Ukrainian flag from its facade.

Police have investigated the case of another man whom they accuse of having called on demonstrators to remove the flag. The court found him guilty of incitement and gave him a suspended prison sentence, but both the defendant and the prosecutor disagreed with that verdict and appealed; the court will hold his trial in June.