Harald Naegeli, the famous "Sprayer of Zurich", has to pay for his flamingo graffiti on the walls of Düsseldorf's house. The lawsuit against him for damage to property was discontinued on Tuesday by the district court of Düsseldorf only for cash.

Thus, the 79-year-old was obliged to compensate the damage to the homeowner in the amount of almost 800 euros and to pay 500 euros to a children's hospice.

Naegeli reacted disappointed: "I wanted to give a work of art instead of money, but in capitalism just the money counts," said the Swiss. For the art city of Dusseldorf, the decision was "an embarrassment".

Previously, Naegeli had admitted to have sprinkled flamingos at the NRW Academy of Sciences and the Arts and other houses. In his view, this was not damage to property and not punishable. He had not accepted a penalty order of 600 euros.

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Harald Naegeli: Revolution from the spray can

With his graffiti, Naegeli has long since become an internationally recognized artist, a brand of his own. He started in the late seventies in his hometown Zurich. In the darkness of the nights he had sprinkled house walls in protest of the inhospitableness of the cities. Hundreds of complaints were filed for damage to the police, followed by years of litigation.

Naegeli fled to Germany, where he found prominent supporters, including Joseph Beuys and Willy Brandt. Former Federal Chancellor Hans-Dietrich Genscher was in favor of suspending Switzerland's extradition request. It did not help: in 1984 Naegeli went to prison in Switzerland. Since then, he has not been deterred by legal proceedings from his art - as now in Dusseldorf.