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| Estonia proposes ban on Soviet, Nazi symbols
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TALLINN (AFP)--- The Estonian government has approved a draft law which would make it a crime to display Soviet- or Nazi-era symbols in public, officials said on Thursday.
The bill, which requires approval from lawmakers, bans the display of the flags of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, and other official symbols of the two "occupying regimes" of Estonia if it is likely to fuel hatred between different ethnic or social groups.
"The bill concerns both Nazi and Soviet symbols," Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip told reporters.
"It is not directed against one occupation of Estonia, but both," he said.
While the ban on Nazi symbols like the swastika is unlikely to be controversial, forbidding those from the Soviet era such as the hammer and sickle is a vexed issue.
Estonia regained independence from the collapsing Soviet Union in 1991, and there have been regular angry exchanges between Tallinn and Moscow since then over the two countries' deep differences about the legacy of World War II.
Russian rule
Estonia was under Russian rule until 1918, and its first period of independence was snuffed out when the Soviets invaded in 1940.
The Baltic country was subsequently occupied by Nazi Germany from 1941 until 1944, when the Red Army expelled Hitler's forces and incorporated Estonia into the Soviet Union.
Moscow refuses to recognise its five-decade rule as an occupation.
Around one-third of Estonia's population of 1.3 million are Russians, most of whose families moved to the country during the Soviet era.
It is customary for Soviet war veterans and their supporters among the Russian-speaking population to wave the red Soviet flag when they mark Soviet-era anniversaries.
The Estonian government said it had decided to amend the existing law because the rules were "vague."
Current legislation bans inciting hatred on the grounds of political views or ethnic or social status, but does not specifically mention symbols.
The maximum penalty under the new law would be three years in prison.
"It will be decided case-by-case if an act of displaying the symbols of the occupying regimes incites hatred and thus constitutes violation of the law or not," said Justice Minister Rein Lang.
"Nobody is going to ban the Soviet and Nazi symbols from being used in a theatrical performance or in research," he said.
Bronze soldier
"But waving the red Soviet flags at the Bronze Soldier should be punishable as it incites hatred," Lang said.
The Bronze Soldier is a controversial monument in central Tallinn, erected by the Soviets in honour of what they viewed as the liberating Red Army, but seen by most Estonians as a symbol of occupation.
Estonian authorities have proposed to move the monument from its prominent position in the capital, but the idea has sparked anger on the Russian side.
The European Union, which Estonia joined in 2004, does not have common rules banning or restricting the use of Nazi or Soviet symbols.
Last year, the Euopean executive Commission said it would be "unwise" to seek a ban across the 25-nation bloc, citing the controversies involved.
Historians remain deeply divided over whether Soviet-era crimes should be equated with Nazi ones including the Holocaust.
Governments are also split over restrictions on symbols because of concerns about freedom of speech.
As part of efforts to overcome its Nazi past, Germany has banned the use of insignia related to Hitler's regime.
Conservatives in the former Soviet bloc have been at the forefront of efforts to place both Nazi and Soviet symbols on an equal footing.
Estonia's neighbour Latvia, which suffered a similar fate, has a law banning the use of both Soviet and Nazi symbols at public meetings.
Hungary also bars use of the Arrow Cross symbol of its WWII pro-Nazi regime, plus the swastika, as well as Soviet symbols.
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