Following the start of the full-scale war in February 2022, the law was changed to ban the display of symbols supporting Russia's aggression. These included the orange and black St. George ribbon and the letter Z.

Since then, over 1,000 incidents have been identified by the police.

"In 2025, a total of 213 misdemeanors were registered related to the justification or support of international crimes," said Anders Allandi, senior commissioner at the North Prefecture of the Police and Border Guard Board (PPA).

Most cases end either with a warning or a fine of approximately €400.

"There are also cases where individuals have been sentenced to detention, and fines can exceed €400. It all depends on the specific case and whether the person acknowledges their wrongdoing," Allandi said.

Priit Põiklik, adviser at the Ministry of Justice and Digital Affairs, said fines and warnings can be handed out on the spot. "That itself constitutes a completed proceeding. About 30 cases have made it to court, where the punishment has been a monetary fine," he said.

Lawyer: Law lack clarity

Former Estonian Bar Association head Jaanus Tehver criticized the law and said it lacks clarity.

"In a way, the problem with this law is that it doesn't precisely define what is allowed or prohibited, so people are left to interpret and understand it on their own," he said.

However, Põiklik said this was the legislator's intent. "Since this concerns a misdemeanor offense, the idea was that the official would have discretion to either launch proceedings or issue a warning and correct the behavior. That discretionary space was intentionally left to the official," he explained.

Tehver said another issue is that police officers are left to interpret what the relevant criminal provision means. It's problematic, he said, if police serve both as enforcers and interpreters of the law.

"When the police, as an executive and law enforcement agency, begin to interpret and apply a criminal provision in a way that the average citizen couldn't reasonably anticipate, then we have a situation where the enforcer and interpreter of the law are the same structure," Tehver said.

Several disputes have reached the Supreme Court.

At a protest in 2023 on Freedom Square, one protester was fined €120 for holding a sign that said "from the river to the sea." The police argued it was a sign displaying a symbol associated with crimes against humanity. But 18 months later, the Supreme Court annulled the fine and dismissed the misdemeanor proceedings.

In a different case, the Supreme Court upheld a fine issued to a woman in Kohtla-Järve, Ida-Viru County, who had congratulated Russian paratroopers on Facebook, even though a lower court had previously annulled it.

Average reasonable person

According to the Supreme Court, whether a symbol supports a crime must be assessed from the viewpoint of an average reasonable person. Factors to consider include the symbol's meaning, as well as the time, place, and manner of its display.

"In practice, the application of this provision leads to disputes, and that results in resource costs for both the state and individuals, who are usually forced to participate in these disputes against their will. The simplest and, in a way, most logical solution would be to repeal a legal provision that causes more problems in society than it resolves. Our legal system does not need such a rule," said Tehver.

If scrapping the law seems too radical, Tehver believes it should at least be rewritten.

The PPA's Allandi argues the law is necessary, as supporting international crimes could lead to more serious offenses.

"Supporting or justifying international crimes can normalize more severe international crimes. It's important that people in Estonia do not feel disturbed or threatened by actions taking place elsewhere in the world, and that such actions are not seen as normal in our society," Allandi said.

The managing editor of the newspaper Põhjarannik noted that although some people in Ida-Viru County still do not understand why they are punished for symbols they associate with the defeat of fascism, most have changed their behavior.

"A few years ago, it was common for some Russian-speaking people to attach a St. George ribbon to their car's rearview mirror, interior, or antenna during May. But now we do not see that anymore, and everyone understands clearly that it's a prohibited symbol," said Põhjarannik managing editor Erik Kalda.

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