On Feb. 2, the Ukrainian government passed a law that augments liability for obstruction of journalists’ work, increasing both prison terms and fines for various crimes.
While some applauded the parliament’s effort, many experts were skeptical whether the new law can realistically make a difference.
According to Ukraine’s National Union of Journalists, over 100 media workers were
harassed or physically attacked in 2020, 77 of which were journalists.
But due to the reluctance to investigate such cases, most of them never even reach the courts.
What will effectively make Ukraine safer for media workers is the inevitability of punishment, whatever that punishment may be, experts told the Kyiv Post.
The new law
For illegal seizure of materials obtained by the journalist, such as footage, an individual can now be fined from Hr 8,500 to Hr 17,000 – $300 to $615 approximately.
Previously, the perpetrators could only be fined Hr 850, or $30, if they took away journalists’ files.
Attempts to prevent a journalist from carrying out their professional duties can also be punished by a fine ranging from Hr 17,000 to Hr 34,000 – $615 to $1,230 respectively, a sum much higher than the previous fine of $120.
If the perpetrator is a public official, the fines go higher – Hr 34,000 to 51,000, or $1,230 to $1,850.
For death threats, destruction of property, or a physical attack on a journalist or their relatives one can end up in prison for 7 to 14 years.
Does it work?
Ukraine’s record on the freedom of press has always been tainted by corruption and a rotten judicial system.
Some experts see the parliament’s decision as a publicity stunt that is supposed to improve the situation with freedom on speech on paper.
“It seems that in this country only a fool does not promote themselves using journalists and freedom of speech,” said the director of Institute of Mass Information NGO Oksana Romaniuk.
The Institute’s lawyer Ali Safarov thinks the new law is pointless unless it is effectively enforced, which remains a big problem in Ukraine.
“In cases where a judge, a police officer, a high-ranking official or their relative is involved – the investigation lasts for years,” Safarov told the Kyiv Post. “Sometimes the cases get terminated several times.”
An example of this is the assault of journalists from Bihus.Info, formerly known as Nashi Groshi, an investigative program that uncovers corruption schemes of Ukrainian politicians.
Back in 2015, the program’s reporter and videographer were filming an episode about the Minister of Internal Affairs at the time, Sergiy Chebotar. They were attacked by Chebotar’s son-in-law and his business partner.
After numerous closures and reopenings of the case over the course of four years, both were cleared of all charges supposedly due to a lack of evidence.
“The fastest investigations into attacks on journalists take place when none of the offenders is an official, businessman or another “respectable person,” Safarov says.
Often police refuse to even open a criminal case after a journalist’s rights were violated, as recently happened in Zaporizhia.
There, three journalists were arbitrarily not allowed to attend a session of the city council. Despite multiple complaints filed to the police, local enforcement initially refused to register those cases as investigations.
All were told that the police didn’t find evidence of a crime. Eventually the police did open a criminal case, after repeated demands from journalists and their colleagues.
“It is crucial that courts react to police officers who refuse to accept a complaint from a victim and don’t register it,” Safarov thinks.
Some hope
Despite systematic failures of the judicial systems, some experts are hopeful that increased liability will prevent perpetrators from being so reckless.
“Of course, the record of punishment for interference with the journalist’s work is very weak… but tens of thousands of hryvnias in fines can avert the attacks,” the head of the National Union of Journalists Sergiy Tomilenko wrote on Facebook.
But even he isn’t overly positive about the decision of Ukraine’s parliament.
“(The new law) positively broadcasts a certain signal to society – journalists are important and they need to be protected,” Tomilenko told the Kyiv Post.
“But it is the inevitability of punishment, effective investigations of every case of obstruction of journalistic activity that will be able to make the profession of a journalist in Ukraine safer”.
There is little chance that the situation will improve significantly, chief editor of corruption investigative journalism agency Slidstvo.info Anna Babynets says.
“Crimes against journalists are not investigated, they pile up somewhere in the investigators’ offices for years, and then the cases get closed,” Babynets told the Kyiv Post. “Unfortunately, this is a common practice in Ukraine and a harsher punishment is unlikely to change that.”
