Several leading Ukrainian news media organizations are protesting against the potential redefinition and criminalization of libel A black banner went up on a number of websites, including the Kyiv Post, Ukrainska Pravda, Korrespondent, Segodnya.ua, LigaBusinessInform, UkraNews, Telekritika and others.
A new law that criminalizes libel is
advancing in parliament. It passed the first reading on Sept. 18 by 244 votes
out of 450. The protest banner has a link to the names and contacts of all of
the deputies who voted for the law.
“Call their office, write them an email and ask why
they did it,” the banner suggests. It also contains a link to the code for
those who want to install the same banner on their sites in Ukrainian, Russian
and English.
The new law on libel was drafted by pro-presidential Party
of Regions deputy Vitaliy Zhuravskiy, who recently told the press this law is
needed to rein in journalists ahead of the Oct. 28 parliamentary election. His
sentiment is apparently shared by the Party of Regions, the Communist Party and
People’s Party of Volodymyr Lytvyn, who supported the law in the first reading.
Should the law pass the second reading and get signed
by the president, journalists can face up to five years in prison for libel and
defamation. Journalists fear that severe sanctions will kill freedom of speech
in the country as reporters will be practicing self-censorship more than ever.
Moreover, the law can potentially affect any citizen of Ukraine who expresses a
critical opinion about state officials.
A open Facebook group has been started against this
law. Click here to join.
