The Supreme Court upheld the decision of the Sixth Administrative Court of Appeal, which refused to recognize the symbols of the Galicia division as Nazi.
This was announced by lawyer Vyacheslav Yakubenko, who represented the interests of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance.
The lawyer said that in 2017, a journalist from the publication "Strana.ua" turned to the Institute to clarify whether the symbols of the "Halychyna" division fell under the ban in accordance with the requirements of the law on the prohibition of Nazi symbols. The head of the Institute at the time, Volodymyr Viatrovych, replied that the divisionʼs symbols were not included in the list of what is considered Nazi symbols.
After that, the "concerned citizen" turned to the District Administrative Court of Kyiv with a demand to prohibit the Institute from making similar conclusions regarding the divisionʼs symbols. The lawsuit was then partially satisfied. The decision of the Supreme Court is final and cannot be appealed.
- On April 28, 2021, a march of embroidered women took place in the center of Kyiv on the anniversary of the creation of the "Halychyna" division, which fought in the Second World War from 1943 to 1945 as part of the Waffen-SS of Nazi Germany. The march was organized by the nationalist organizations "Society of the Future", "Right Sector", "Svoboda", grandsons of veterans of the "Halychyna" division, the Union of ATO veterans, the Ukrainian military Honor initiative, and others. Several hundred people took part in it.
- The police drew up an administrative report against the participant of the march for using the prohibited Nazi salute.
- The march was condemned by the Presidentʼs Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a number of peopleʼs deputies, the head of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance, the German ambassador to Ukraine, and others.