Minister of the Interior Lauri Läänemets admitted on Monday, while answering the questions of members of the Riigikogu, that no Nazi symbols were found on the copy of the Lihula monument taken into custody by the police
“Semiotic expertise has not identified any prohibited symbols, and if someone recognizes the stone as their own and turns to the police, the police will act according to the law,” said Läänemets, specifying that the police will return the stone to its owner.
Läänemets also had to answer the deputies’ questions about how it views the use of red symbols on the bronze soldier in the Tallinn Defense Forces cemetery. The minister remained general, noting that no one is going to install this pillar there, but it is already there and is under the control of the defense forces. At the same time, Läänemets confirmed that it does not have a good attitude towards the red symbol and has, for example, been involved in the decision to remove the red tank in Narva.
On September 1, a memorial was to be installed on private land in Lihula to the Estonian soldiers who fought and fell against the Soviet occupation and for the restoration of Estonian independence. In this way, it was planned to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Estonian defense battles and to pay tribute to the men to whom the Republic of Estonia has failed to show proper respect.
In the form of the memorial, it was a copy of the monument removed from the Lihula cemetery in 2004, the original of which is now in the Lagedi Museum. After the monument was removed from Lihula in 2004, the police ordered an expert opinion from Peeter Torop, professor of semiotics at the University of Tartu. The expert did not identify any signs of Nazi symbolism on the memorial:
“All possible SS symbols have been suppressed. The bas-relief has a cross on the chest, but no swastika. On his head, the man has a universal German army helmet, the shape of which, however, is far from a reason to immediately recognize it as Nazi. It should be said that the monument shows a strong Estonian aspect. For example, the sleeve has the image of the tricolor and the collar emblem with the image of the cross of the War of Independence,” wrote Peeter Torop at the time.
However, on August 31, the PPA confiscated a copy of the memorial while it was being transported to Lihula – the van transporting the memorial was stopped at the 12th kilometer of St. Petersburg highway, and the memorial was confiscated with the help of a rescue agency crane. In doing so, it was based on the reasoning that “the monument has the characteristics of Section 151`1 of the Penal Code and there is reason to believe that the monument may be erected for the purpose of public display.”
Section 151`1, paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code states that it is prohibited and punishable to “publicly display a symbol related to the commission of an act of aggression, genocide, crime against humanity or war crime in a way that supports or justifies these acts”.
2024-10-21 20:22:00
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